Pilot Life: Night Currency in the Cherokee!

My night currency expires in just a few days and I haven't flown all week! So naturally in continuing a good habit of keeping my currency with specific pilot privileges in check, I did a local night flight to reset the clock on my night currency. And to add to the challenge, I did it flying the flight club's Piper Cherokee, since I still don't have a lot of night hours in the type; I figured that this would hopefully be a good way to start off this coming week out right.

Getting night-current by flying N1636H!

After arriving at the hangar, I went through pre-flight checks as well as the walk-around; I took my time with pre-flight so I can time my departure well-after Salem Tower closed for the night and the clock was an hour past today's sunset time in order to ensure the night hours I'd log tonight were legit. Once it was dark enough and the pre-flight was done, I pulled the plane out of the hangar and hopped in. After getting the engine started and situated, I taxied out to Runway 34. After engine run-ups, I taxied onto the runway and got airborne.

I had originally planned to fly down to Albany and even Corvallis to do some landings at different airports, but I decided against that and stayed local in the traffic pattern at Salem. I did my first three landings on Runway 34, doing standard left-traffic pattern laps each time; my first landing was a touch-and-go to help me get the sight-picture I was looking for when it came to night landings and my second and third were both stop-and-go landings followed by a short-field takeoff with 10 degrees of flaps applied.

For my next three landings, I decided to switch things up by moving over to the longer Runway 31. It was around this point the airport-based firefighters (Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting - ARFF) got their trucks out and began their nightly rounds of inspecting the taxiways and runways, and they seemed to enjoy seeing an aircraft work the pattern as it seemed to make their jobs a little more interesting. I too enjoyed having the opportunity to interact with them a little bit over the radio as we coordinated with each other a little bit to make sure neither of us would come into conflict with one another. I have to give the ARFF folks a shout-out here for everything they do!

Once again, I did a touch-and-go landing on Runway 31 followed by a lap in the pattern to execute another stop-and-go landing before doing another short-field takeoff with 10 degrees of flaps applied. After doing one more lap in the pattern, my sixth landing of the night was a full-stop. And it looked like I was calling it quits at a good time because ARFF crew were about to begin inspecting the runway I was using. Without delay, I cleared the runway and communicated to the ARFF crew to let them know they could proceed out onto the runway. As for me, I taxied over the fuel pumps to top off the tanks a little bit before bringing the plane back to the flight club's hangar. After the usual post-flight, I rolled the trusty Piper Cherokee back into the hangar just as the moon was starting rise above the horizon and closed up shop.