Flying, that is. Night flying to be exact.
Yesterday, I finally got current for night operations.
I had been trying to find a time to schedule flying with an instructor at night, but I just never could seem to work it out. So, since I can legally fly by myself at night, I decided to ease back into the darkness on my own.
Jeanie and I went out for a sight seeing flight in the late afternoon. We had been interested in looking at some of the new local developments from the air. Google Earth is great, but it can't keep up with a rapidly developing area like around here. So, off we went too look around, being careful to stay under JAX's class C veil.
After we had finished our sight seeing. I dropped Jeanie off so she could run some errands, and parked the plane on the ramp. I guess all the flying I've been doing lately paid off - it was the smoothest landing I've ever made.
I waited until about a half hour after sunset to take back off. At that point, it wasn't yet totally dark, but it wasn't day either. That way, my first couple of landings allowed me to acclimate to the night time environment. After making a couple of full darkness landings, I decided to take a tour of the island. This was the first time that I had ever flown right at the ocean at night. It was an interesting experience. Although there are additional inherent dangers associated with night flying - especially near open water - it is wonderful. Things are so different at night. The lights are pretty, the stars are bright, and typically, the air is very smooth. All in all, it makes for a very serene experience.
As far as the actual flying is concerned, I had remembered that the actual touch down is a little more challenging, due to the challenges with depth perception at night, but I had forgotten how much more challenging making the correct approach into the airport to enter the pattern is; especially at an airport with three intersecting lighted runways!
There was one other highlight to the evening. Years ago, Jamie had given me this really cool, really small flashlight.
For years I had kept it stuffed away in a drawer. When I started flying again, I threw it in my flight bag. Turns out, it is a perfect little flashlight for cockpit use while night flying. It is not too bright, and a yellowish color, so it doesn't ruin night vision. The little clip on the back allows it to clip conveniently to my shirt pocket, which it is just right for reading checklists.
I don't anticipate that we'll intentionally do much night flying, but it is nice to know that if we end up going someplace and leaving later than initially planned, that I can legally complete the flight under the cover of darkness - at least for the next 90 days.
Digg It!
Bookmark it!
Posted by David at February 09, 2007 01:17 PM