If you are one of my students, then this is YOUR BLOG. Let's use it as a forum to post news, tips, stories, links, study suggestions, etc.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Night Flight
Herb just finished all his night requirements... Herb, if you get a chance, post some thoughts here about night flying for those who still have that coming up. It's different!
I had started a post but it got zapped while editing... first I would say that all of this sounds like Mom and Apple pie but here are my observations from a newbie student perspective: a) Preflight during the day light if you can. Patti will make you preflight at least once in the dark but if you can plan you time leverage the day light hours. We are spoiled at PAO with all the lighting on the field but checking oil and the fuel really are challenging with dim light b) lights, Lights, LIGHTS - I thought I covered all the bases as I had a couple of lights and of course one of those flashlights with a red/white light... well there are good lights and not so good flashlights... I had what I thought was a fairly small flashlight but it was a bit too big... Patti has a really nice compact one PLUS she has a nice secret...I learned this the hard way... she has a flashlight with a lanyard so it hangs nicely around her neck... me... I kept trying to find a good place to store my flashlight... I ended up stuffing it into my shirt pocket... I am sure Patti must have been laughing at me inside... I found it challenging on the night XC to work the flashlight and write on the NAV log... I still am not comfortable with the lighting I have... I did pick up some other lighting options so if anyone wants to try them out let me know... I have a head lamp with white/green/red and some other options... but I really like the lanyard idea... I guess it shows who is the student…. c) Airports are harder and easier to find at night... easier in that if you see the beacon you have an idea of where to head ... harder that once you are there the runway is harder to pick out. I was expecting to see this brilliantly lit runway only to find it wasn't that way at all... d) Picking a route ... it may be a good idea to pick a night XC destination that is familiar to you... I picked MRY because I was always heading out over Altamont and wanted to get some experience going south... in hindsight it may have been better to pick a route I was familiar with because all the check points that would seem easy to find during the day are much more difficult at night... following a highway is good but they don't always stand out as much I thought. e) Taxing at an unfamiliar airport is challenging and I was happy I had a full page detailed airport map. f) dark is dark -- another reason to go to a familiar airport is that those dark patches "down" there could be flat dark fields or that rising terrain ... it is just not the same as during the day when you can see an avoid the hills. g) Patience, patience, patience... I got a lot of practice driving to PAO and pre-flighting the plane only to decide the WX was not good enough... it may just be my luck but it seems like I had to cancel most of my night flights...thankfully I got a really beautiful night to fly, a good gauge is to find those nights when all the forecasts showing nothing but SKC .. they do happen.
If you read this far I apologize for the long post, I'll buy you a beer or a drink of you choice.
Great tips Herb, and after doing 4 takeoffs/landings from PAO at night, I concur about the flashlights. It was really hard to get up to check fuel with three things in my hand. Looking forward to doing night XC...well, maybe I should focus on getting my solo XC first :)
I had started a post but it got zapped while editing... first I would say that all of this sounds like Mom and Apple pie but here are my observations from a newbie student perspective:
ReplyDeletea) Preflight during the day light if you can. Patti will make you preflight at least once in the dark but if you can plan you time leverage the day light hours. We are spoiled at PAO with all the lighting on the field but checking oil and the fuel really are challenging with dim light
b) lights, Lights, LIGHTS - I thought I covered all the bases as I had a couple of lights and of course one of those flashlights with a red/white light... well there are good lights and not so good flashlights... I had what I thought was a fairly small flashlight but it was a bit too big... Patti has a really nice compact one PLUS she has a nice secret...I learned this the hard way... she has a flashlight with a lanyard so it hangs nicely around her neck... me... I kept trying to find a good place to store my flashlight... I ended up stuffing it into my shirt pocket... I am sure Patti must have been laughing at me inside... I found it challenging on the night XC to work the flashlight and write on the NAV log... I still am not comfortable with the lighting I have... I did pick up some other lighting options so if anyone wants to try them out let me know... I have a head lamp with white/green/red and some other options... but I really like the lanyard idea... I guess it shows who is the student….
c) Airports are harder and easier to find at night... easier in that if you see the beacon you have an idea of where to head ... harder that once you are there the runway is harder to pick out. I was expecting to see this brilliantly lit runway only to find it wasn't that way at all...
d) Picking a route ... it may be a good idea to pick a night XC destination that is familiar to you... I picked MRY because I was always heading out over Altamont and wanted to get some experience going south... in hindsight it may have been better to pick a route I was familiar with because all the check points that would seem easy to find during the day are much more difficult at night... following a highway is good but they don't always stand out as much I thought.
e) Taxing at an unfamiliar airport is challenging and I was happy I had a full page detailed airport map.
f) dark is dark -- another reason to go to a familiar airport is that those dark patches "down" there could be flat dark fields or that rising terrain ... it is just not the same as during the day when you can see an avoid the hills.
g) Patience, patience, patience... I got a lot of practice driving to PAO and pre-flighting the plane only to decide the WX was not good enough... it may just be my luck but it seems like I had to cancel most of my night flights...thankfully I got a really beautiful night to fly, a good gauge is to find those nights when all the forecasts showing nothing but SKC .. they do happen.
If you read this far I apologize for the long post, I'll buy you a beer or a drink of you choice.
Great tips Herb, and after doing 4 takeoffs/landings from PAO at night, I concur about the flashlights. It was really hard to get up to check fuel with three things in my hand. Looking forward to doing night XC...well, maybe I should focus on getting my solo XC first :)
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