Night Flyin’
After what felt like another painfully long wait, Brett and I took to the air for an introduction to night flight. We discussed the 5 extra things one needs for VFR flight at night. FLAPS. (F)ueses, (L)anding lights, (A)nti-collision lights, (P)osition lights and a (S)ource of electrical energy for radio and electrical equipment.
The first stop was Goldendale, and finding it was relatively easy. Not only had I landed there before and knew where to look, but I had the advantage of riding back seat on one of Brett’s night flight lessons and was able to pick up the method for finding an airfield. First use whatever landmarks are available to find the general area, know where the airfield is in relation to these landmarks. Next look for the rotating green and white beacon, indicating an airport. Lastly one can key the mic on the appropriate frequency to activate the lights on the runway. This all went fairly smoothly and I entered the pattern. Everything felt great right up until I was almost over the runway. I felt ahead of the plane and was really happy with my approach. The only problem was that even though the runway lights were on and I could see its borders, but the runway itself was still disconcertingly dark. Even though I wasn’t sure why it felt weird I decided to go around. Just as I pushed the throttle, I realized my issue. I had failed to turn on my landing lights! UTFCL (see the post Wasco Lunch).
The second attempt with the lights on went smoothly, and I was able to land with plenty of runway. Since practicing approaches and flying in ground effect, I have been really surprised how landings have clicked. While back taxiing the runway Brett told me to next plan on heading to Wasco. In the run-up area I broke out the map, figured my heading, potential obstacles, landmarks near the airport, radio frequencies, what runways are available, runway altitude, pattern altitude, and pattern direction. Off to Wasco!
The rest of the flight went like this. I would land in one airport and Brett would tell me to plan the next leg. Goldendale, Wasco, Condon, John Day. Some of the airfields I had landed previously others I hadn’t. As we flew I gained confidence and not only that, I had time to appreciate the peace of flying at night. There is an added and beautiful solitude to flying in the dark among the stars.
On the return Brett had me call up Seattle Center and pick up flight following. This was super easy and a great precaution to have already established communications with them in case anything were to go wrong. A little over 4 hours after leaving The Dalles, we touched back down on 3-0. While I wish I could have kept flying, I was pretty tired by this point and ok with calling it a night.