Pilot Life: Getting Night Current

It's been well over a year since I last did a night flight, which is hard to believe. I've been waiting for a good night to get some solo night flying in, but weather for most of this week was just awful. But today worked out in my favor. Not only that, but tonight was my very first time flying solo at night as well!

Regained my night-current status in N802CT.

Equipped with my red flashlight, I waited about an hour after the official sunset time for the day before I conducted pre-flight. After that, I towed the plane over to the fuel pumps to put some fuel in the tank. After fueling up, I hopped in the airplane and got the engine started up. I taxied the plane over to the run-up area and did run-ups; I took my time with everything to allow my eyes to adjust to the darkness. After verifying run-ups didn't result in any abnormalities, I taxied to the runway, turned my exterior lights on and took off.

To get night-current, I had to do three landings to full stop (according to regulations) so I did three stop-and-go landings on Runway 30 at Spanish Fork; I also ended up doing one go-around tonight because I've forgotten how nerve-racking night flying can be sometimes. After doing my three stop-and-go landings and respective circuits in the pattern, I made my fourth landing a full-stop landing and vacated the runway and taxied back to the ramp before shutting down the engine and putting the airplane in the barn for the night.

It was a simple, local flight, but well-worth reviewing how I should conduct a flight in the dark of night. Plus tonight served as another milestone in my piloting career as my very first solo flight at night. Now that I'm night-current, I can legally take passengers flying as pilot-in-command at night!