Night Flight

It's been quite awhile since I last flew at night, so I scheduled some time with an instructor to get re-familiarized with night take-offs and landings. We rendezvoused at the airport on July 16 around 9:30 PM, after Civil Twilight ended (the end of Civil Twilight marks the "official" beginning of night-time for flying purposes). After a quick preflight, we took off into the smooth night air. The wind was calm on the ground, but once aloft a fairly strong crosswind developed.

We headed first to Tacoma-Narrows Airport (KTIW). Since KTIW is only about 15 miles from S50, I spotted it as soon as we were at pattern altitude. During the day KTIW is a tower-controlled airport, but in the evening it reverts to a non-towered airport. We kept the altitude to 1500' so as to pass below the SEATAC class B airspace. We set up for a long left base to runway 17, and turned on to a three mile final. There was a very strong crosswind at altitude, and I had to hold a significant crab all the way down. Right above the runway, however, the air was very calm. I did a touch and go and went around for another one. The second landing went as well as the first, and so we turned East and headed toward Puyallup (KPLU).

On the way to KPLU we had to get clearance to transition the McChord Air Force base class D airspace. The KPLU ATIS indicated that the winds were calm, so we entered a left pattern for runway 34. Again, there was a strong crosswind that required a crab, but once below about 25' AGL it slowed to nothing. We were a little high on final, so instead of a touch and go I elected for a full stop landing. After landing we taxied back to runway 34 and then took off and headed back home to S50.

After lifting-off from KPLU, my instructor had me put the hood on and I flew to S50 under simulated instrument conditions. I set us up on final and when the instructor pulled the hood off I was lined up with the runway dead ahead and set for another touch and go. On the next one we elected to do it without the landing light. This can be a little unnerving if you're not used to it, since you can't actually see the runway until you touch down. You have to use the runway edge lighting and your peripheral vision to judge your height above the ground. On the first try I came in a little high and elected to go around. The next try went much better and I made a smooth landing without the landing light. It's good to know that you can still put the plane safely back on the ground even if you should lose electrical power at night.

Overall it was a very fun flight. The air was very smooth and the full-moon meant for some beautiful views of the city at night. I'll have to buy a new flashlight, as mine didn't work despite changing the batteries. Fortunately my instructor had one along.

Total time: 1.1 hrs.