Pilot Life: Night Cross Country in the Arrow!

You know how General Aviation pilots and pilot groups all have their preferred or favorite airplane? Or they have their "first" airplane because that's the plane they got their license or a certain rating in? Of course, every pilot has at least one airplane that's got a special place in their hearts! Mine will always be the Diamond DA20-C1 Katana since I started my flight training and got my license in that plane! Then pilots "move on" and upgrade, looking for something that might better suit them, probably because of speed or performance. For General Aviation pilots, moving up usually means getting into a complex airplane with retractable landing gear and a constant-speed propeller or going to a twin-engine platform. A buddy of mine back in Utah frequently referred to the Piper Arrow IV he rented, flew, and loved as his "mistress" and he always felt as if he was cheating on her whenever he flew a different airplane! Needless to say, I think the Piper Arrow I started flying today to get my complex training hours is becoming my "mistress" airplane!!!

(Hey, I'm a pilot! And pilots are supposed to have a somewhat dark and twisted sense of humor!)

Because one flight in single a day isn't enough, I got second one in for the evening hours! Actually, with the great weather and the prospect of bright, full moon, my instructor suggested that we jump on the opportunity to knock out the commercial cross country training flights, starting tonight with a nighttime flight. In addition to the ten hours of training needed in a complex airplane, I also need to do two cross-country flights with a flight instructor where the distance between the two airports are at least 100 nautical miles and flight time is at least two hours, one each for day and night. And these cross-country training flights can be accomplished while flying a complex airplane (my instructor's preferred method of knocking out the commercial requirements!); and since I have to pay my instructor either way, I elected to do the cost-effective, kill two birds with one stone way! Of course, this was an opportunity I was not about to pass up!

Taking N4958J, a.k.a. mistress "Julie," out for a night cross-country up to Olympia!

First things first, I met with my instructor and went over the plan of action for tonight; tonight, we were flying up to Olympia, Washington, the state's capital. I haven't been up to Washington since my big IFR cross-country training flight back in October! We also killed a little time waiting for it to be officially night time, or the legal interpretation of night time in aviation. And when I mean "we," I mean my instructor killed some time, because I spent the last rays of daylight doing the pre-flight for the airplane, just as my instructor showed me this morning prior to my first flight in the Arrow. The nice thing about renting this airplane: I don't have to fuel it up because the flight school will do it for me!!!

Once pre-flight was complete, we loaded up and hopped in the airplane. After getting the engine started, I taxied us to Runway 34 and did the run-ups before departing. Once we were airborne (and landing gear retracted!), we headed out northbound and climbed to cruise altitude, applying the things I learned this morning with managing the constant speed propeller and proper manifold pressure on the engine. We also picked up VFR Flight Following with Seattle Center and had them keep their eyes on us as we traversed northbound; we would eventually get handed off to Portland Approach. Other than that, it was just a routine VFR cross-country flight at night at some pretty respectable speeds! And with the full moon brightly beaming on our right wing, it honestly felt like we were cheating the whole night flying thing!

Eventually we made our descent into Olympia; we picked up the AWOS information and based on the winds, we were free to use any runway as the winds were calm. We came in on Runway 17 after doing a rather wide right pattern as we didn't make our descent as fast as we should've (whoops!)... After making a fine landing, I taxied us off the next taxiway and headed back to Runway 17 in preparation for departure back south. Before we took back off on Runway 17, my instructor walked me through what he liked to call a "quick and dirty" mag check, which is basically just cycling the engine magnetos to make sure they're operating smoothly. After that, we got back in the air and made a straight-out departure back to the south; once again, we got VFR Flight Following with Seattle Approach. And same as on the way up, I got the airplane configured for cruise. I continue to fall in love with the speed and having a constant speed propeller that enhances overall performance!

Once again, things were just routine between radio calls, scanning for traffic and checking flight instruments while preserving night vision. My instructor and I even had the time to have conversation about stuff other than flying; today was really the first time he and I flew together doing VFR stuff as everything else we previously did was IFR and instrument training. It was also nice to get to know my instructor better as we made the journey back home, which did take a little longer because we had a bit of headwind. Eventually though, city lights from Salem and Albany came into view and it was time to start descending; and we made sure to do it properly this time by descending around Salem!

Just like this morning, I brought us in on the 45-downwind for Runway 34 and made a fine, uneventful landing to complete the cross country flight and fulfill another commercial requirement. I taxied the plane back to the ramp and onto the same tie-down spot we pulled out of earlier and I shut the engine down. After conducting post-flight checks and securing the airplane for the night, we filled out logbooks to make this flight official. This was a fun and enjoyable flight!

One nighttime cross-country training flight down, one daytime cross-country training flight to go!