More Night Flying

Tonight we flew more or less the same profile we've been flying for the past couple night flights: an instrument approach followed by night pattern work. I actually got to fly the ILS at the home field with a little coaching from the IP. He gave me a torque setting and I just held the glideslope indicator steady. It was great weather, so I could see the runway, which always helps, but it was still good just to fly an instrument approach after such a long hiatus from instrument flying. The last instrument flight I had was sometime back in June of last year. The pattern work went well and I got to fly a few patterns at International. I really enjoyed just taking in the lights and the night flying environment as I sat in the back while my wingman took his turn flying. Looking forward to instruments!

Flying at Night

Monday was supposed to be my second night contact flight, but we were canceled for lack of aircraft. I flew that event yesterday night instead. We did a visual approach over at International and then did the pattern work at the aux field. It reaffirmed how I like flying at night. The air is calmer, less aircraft are up, and the lights and the stars make everything a little mystical. It's nice. One more night contact, then off to a slew of instrument sims.

Night Flight and Basic Instrument Sim

Yesterday was my first T-44 night flight. It was relatively laid back. The IP got delayed, so we didn't take off until it was already late. The night flying environment is always less crowded, and we had the aux field completely to ourselves. It was nice and peaceful. I planted the first one like I was landing on a carrier, but that's pretty common at night. I fixed the problem and subsequent landings were much better. He pulled an engine on a few passes, but the fog started to roll in and we had to head back. The fog got so bad that we barely had the mins to fly the approach. We finally saw the runway approach lights right at the mins (200' - 1/2) when the IP was about to waveoff. Craziest approach yet.

Today I had my first instrument sim. The first four are all just turn patterns and standard highwork on instruments just to get your crosscheck working quickly. I pretty much nailed everything and got a good preview of what's coming. It was a really good sim for me.

Tonight we had a little get-together to hear from the IPs about the different aircraft they fly. Afterward, a few of us cornered the Air Force guy who talked about C-130s and asked him a ton of questions. Very informative.

Late night

Pretty much got the runaround today as far as scheduling goes. I showed up not on the schedule, got put on the schedule, switched IP's, switched back, was told the line was canceled but maybe something else would show up, briefed up anyways, was told the line was really canceled, then back to not flying at all. Classic UPT. I was recorder for the night flying go, which ended up being really boring.

Lunch at Hibiscus was nice though.

Night flying

The past couple nights I've been working the swing shift flying at night. We only get two night flights in T-6's, but it's been pretty cool. It seems to be a little more peaceful at night, and even the air is calmer. It's tough to see, because, as one of my IPs so elegantly phrased it, "The biggest difference about night flying, compared to flying during the day, is that it's dark."

Note to self: Double check that my phone is off during the brief so that I won't be tempted to answer it while holding short of the active runway.

Area solo tomorrow for some aerobatics...can't hardly believe it.