Who turned out the lights?

WOW! Had my first night flight last night... and it was amazing! I thought the city looked good during the day, but at night it is just spectacular!

Preflighting at night is a bit problematic, but thats why a torch is compulsory! I just wish I had 3 hands... I might have to invest in a headlamp.

As we were low on gas, we had to taxi over to the pumps (no fuel truck at 2100hrs) and then back to the runway for run-ups.

We lined up and sat on the runway for a moment while Trevor explained that it is important to memorise the perspective of the lights, as it becomes very important when coming in to land...

Take-off is a little disconcerting as you are whizzing along the runway with all the edge lighting thinking 'Whats the big deal?' and then you start climbing and all the lights disappear out of view and all you can see is black! Instrument flying time...

We headed out past Drury towards Bombay and Pukekohe and ran through some basic maneuvers (climbing, descending and medium turns) and then headed back to NZAR, joining overhead, for some circuits.

Was quite interesting as we carry an extra 200' of height at night, so you need to make allowances for the fact that you will be high.

Landing in the dark really does present some unique challenges... mainly because its very hard to judge height and distance... You just have to remember than when you get to the proper perspective (ie. lights are about eye-level) that means you're already on the ground! as I found out the 'hard' way on my 2nd landing :) Another lesson learned, and my last landing without the landing light was actually pretty good.

I cannot wait to continue with the night flying... and do a city scenic at night and a low approach and overshoot at Auckland International... I am considering paying the $50 'landing' fee to do a Touch and Go just to say I have flown into NZAA ;)

In other news, I have now passed the 100 hours mark! :) Can't wait to try out DXP, which is insured for 100+ hour pilots only.

This flight: 0.9 Dual
Total Hours: 100.1 (73.4 Dual Day, 0.9 Dual Night, 25.8 PinC, 5.1 IFR)