Night Flight

I can't imagine having more fun in an airplane than I did yesterday.  Night Flying was amazing.  Everything was so peaceful down below.  We could see each of the cars trying to make it through the traffic on I-69.  I listened into Indianapolis Approach for a little while which was fun.  I think we are going to get flight following for the cross country this weekend.  I've wanted to do that so it will be fun.

 

Anyway, here is what I did:

We departed around 8:30, and flying at night doesn't really start until around 9:15, so for the first little bit we did some maneuving.  Started out with some slow flight, then power-on and power-off stalls, a few steep turns (which i did very poorly at this time... hmm) and then some hood work.  It was getting pretty dark about then so we started the clock for night flight.  It started out with simulated engine out procedure.  I did actually end of gliding down to Indy Executive airport and landing safely.  We taxied around and took off from there.  This is when I started loving flying at night.  Lights every where, cars driving around, stars in the sky.  It was amazing.

From Indy Executive (KTYQ) we headed over to Indy Metro (UMP). I've been in a plane that landed at UMP before, but I wasn't the pilot.  It was the flight that I went on with Brad Wood in the 172RG.  That was fun, but this was better.  I was a little high on the first approach, mostly becuase we did right traffic at an airport where I've never landed.  We ended up doing a go-around, which was good to practice and then the second time all was well.  We landed, taxied to the end of the runway and took off the opposite direction.  There was virtually no wind last night, so we could land however we wanted.

 

From UMP we headed to Mount Comfort (MQJ).  I actually remembered the UNICOM frequency and runways for Mt. Comfort so that was good.  I had a midfield cross over to enter the downwind in the pattern.  My landing at MQJ was a little flat, meaning that I had to apply power at the end instead of just gliding in.  This isn't terrible, but in general means if I were to lose the enging when I was coming in, I probably wouldn't make it to the runway.

 

I taxied around and took off from MQJ then headed toward Shelbyville (SHB).  I did some night hood work, which was much more challenging.  There is a lot to focus on when you are flying under the hood, and at this point I don't love it.  I don't hate it, but it is much harder.  At night in general you have to trust your instruments more than during the day, but when I was under the hood, I was taxed.

 

We did one go-around and one landing at SHB.  The landing was good, I had a strange pattern, but I kept my airspeeds right and fixed the plane for a nice landing.  We left shelbyville and headed back to EYE to end the night.  The final leg was great, I got to soak up the lights of downtown indy, listen to Air Traffic Control at KIND and relaxed after all of my touch and goes.  We got back, fueled up, put the plane away and logged our time.  I landed around 11:15 and we left the hanger around 11:35.  Long night of flying, but I'd do it again tomorrow if I had the chance.