Once I got dispatched out, we headed out to the airplane and I performed the pre-flight inspection on the same aircraft I flew on my most recent flight while at the same time, giving time for our eyes to adjust to the darkness around us. I must admit, it was really quiet out on the ramp and it felt a little bit eerie... With clocks set back just yesterday coinciding with the end of Daylight Savings Time, it was already dark at around 6 PM. My instructor loaned me his red flashlight so I could see in the dark while I did the pre-flight and preserve night vision; red light has the shortest wavelength and therefore is the best light to use for night flights. Analogue cockpit instrument panels are also commonly lit up in red in order to help pilots preserve night vision. One common misconception my instructor corrected me on is that even using a red flashlight will also destroy night vision, but does so with the least amount of impact compared to other light colors. Again, it all has to do with the short wavelengths.
After completing pre-flight, we hopped in the airplane and went through start-up procedures, followed by a clearance to taxi to the runway by the ground controller; the air traffic control tower at Provo does close during later evening hours but for the duration of this flight, they were still operational as the evening was still technically young! As soon as I picked up instructions to taxi to the north end of the airfield, I got a call back from the ground controller saying wind directions just changed and we got redirected to taxi to the south end of the field; it was a sudden but welcome change mainly because I've never taken off in this direction before. Taxiing in this direction also meant a much shorter taxi time for us as well.
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| N885CT, "Wolf 11," the aircraft I took up with my instructor for my first night flight. In order to preserve night vision, I did not take any pictures on this flight for good reason! |
We taxied down to the runway and stopped short to do our usual run-ups. After run-ups were complete, I picked up our flight's takeoff clearance from the control tower, lined up on the runway, and began takeoff roll, like we would normally during the day. Once airborne though, everything completely changed; familiar ground features and references I was so used to during the day disappeared into the darkness below as we gained altitude and flying just became a totally different experience for me. Like daytime flying, you still conduct yourself and operate the aircraft the same in many ways with a few alterations to normal practices for night flight, primarily to preserve night vision. Before getting on the airplane, my instructor asked me that I not kill him; way to fill me with confidence!
Once we were airborne and gained sufficient altitude after departing to the north, we made a left hand turn over Utah Lake to head south to one of the nearby practice areas around the Spanish Fork area; being close to a city that was lit up helped in keeping our bearings. Once we arrived in the practice area, it was just like the early stages of my flight training as my flight instructor had me do the basic maneuvers of slow-flight, power-on and power-off stalls. Except these maneuvers were practiced in the dark of night and I was depending more on my instruments than outside visual references (because there weren't any!). First I did slow flight, and once the airplane was configured, my instructor called out headings for me to turn to.
After adequately demonstrating slow flight and gentle banks, my instructor had me recover the airplane and we then went for some steep turns, first one to the left followed by one to the right. Pretty straight-forward maneuvers; at night however, it is really important to maintain altitude and keep a close watch on the altimeter as it was very easy to lose situational awareness in the dark of night because you don't have any outside cues or horizon to rely on so the attitude indicator with the artificial horizon had to do. Following steep turns, my instructor had me do stalls and stall recovery maneuvers.
First the power-on stall followed by a power-off stall (and yes, I remembered how to do these!). This experience was much similar to when I did these maneuvers during the day while wearing foggles during the previous two flights; I was mainly relying more on my instruments. And I really did have to trust in the instruments more so than ever for this flight.
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| Instrument panel in the DA-20. The eight circles on the left are the primary instruments while the eight on the right are gauges for the engine. The instrument I mainly had to rely on for night flight is the attitude indicator. |
After doing the stalls, my instructor took the controls and he performed a stall for himself. He then talked to me about what to do in the event of an engine failure at night (we didn't simulate an engine-out and emergency landing procedure this time around). During the day, it's easier because you can actually see and pick where you want to land if needed. But at night, you can't tell as objects and obstacles are hidden in the darkness. We discussed the importance of understanding the terrain around you when flying at night and look for potential emergency landing spots based on studies from the sectional charts. The other option we talked about were roads, especially lit highways like the Interstate, which according some people at flight school I've talked to, are the best option if it came down to that.
After that discussion, my instructor had me close my eyes (like when he had me recover from unusual attitudes, but he didn't have me actually do that this time) and flew the plane in wild fashion so I would lose spatial orientation. When it came time to open my eyes, my instructor had his hand over the altimeter and asked me if what altitude we were at. I took a guess that we were at a lower altitude. My eyes deceived me; we were still at the same altitude as before my instructor put us through the wild maneuvers! This little lesson within the flight lesson stressed the importance of trusting in my instruments, maintaining situational awareness as well keeping spatial orientation.
It was time to head back to Provo and practice some night landings. It was a straight-in approach from the south, the same direction which we took off in. The airport was lit up with the runway and taxiway lights all turned on. One lighting cue I relied on for the first touch-and-go landing was the Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI for short), a visual aid generally located beside the runway that provides guidance information to help a pilot acquire and maintain the correct approach to an airport. When I'm moments from touching down, the runway should've been visible will all the plane's exterior lights turned on, which was the case. I contacted the ground with the main gears of the DA-20, followed by the nose gear and rolled before re-configuring the plane for a touch-and-go; I set the flaps for takeoff, lined back on center line and throttled forward on the engine and got back in the air after a successful first night landing.
After ascending, we made left-closed traffic over Utah Lake and set up for a second landing, this time a full-stop due to us realizing that we were running low on fuel; I need to build up to a certain amount of night flying hours and get in several night landings, but we'll plan on finishing that up for another time. It was a standard approach but I ended up making this landing a simulated short-field landing due to the placement of where the aircraft touched down. After applying the brakes, we taxied off the runway and headed back to the UVU ramp and called it a successful first night flight for me. It was quite the experiences!
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