Pilot Life: Some More Night Flying

Okay, today was not a great day for me. Simply put, I failed the oral portion of my Instrument checkride this morning. I don't want to go into details about it, but I will say this: I'm disappointed primarily because I've been studying for the Instrument Rating for the past two years only to find myself at this point. But I'm not going to kick myself over it too much; the only thing I can do now is go back and hit the books, go over the things I missed with my instructor, and pick up where the examiner and I left off on another day. Since I didn't get to the flight portion of the checkride and the weather was just superb (meaning spring is around the corner!), I decided to go fly by myself just for the hell of it; I even decided to make a significant portion of it a night flight.

More night flying in N5174E.

After the usual pre-flight/before-takeoff business, I got airborne and first headed towards Corvallis, where I logged some quick daytime flight hours (because it wasn't one hour past sunset time yet!) and landed on Runway 35. I taxied over to the ramp and the VOR check point and did another VOR check before the inspection would lapse in a few days. By the time I was finished, it was officially "nighttime" so I could start logging night hours. I taxied back to Runway 35 and got airborne before setting course for Aurora, exactly 50 nautical miles away from Corvallis, making this segment of my solo flight a night cross-country.

Needless to say, the flight was uneventful other than the fact that it was quite turbulent during the climb-out and the descent. My route took me over Salem above their Class Delta airspace and Aurora would eventually come into view. Of course, I took the time to get the latest ATIS information before contacting the tower to request a touch-and-go; I was instructed to make straight-in for Runway 35, which was rough going in because it was turbulent on the descent. I picked a fine night to log some night hours...

After doing the touch-and-go, tower instructed me to depart southbound on the downwind. The rest of the flight went as well as I expected, with no major hiccups. I passed over Salem once more and then I made my way to Albany, where I would make an uneventful landing on Runway 34.

After landing, I taxied over to the fuel pumps and topped off the tanks before returning the plane to the hangar and calling it a night and a day I would like to forget. But all I can and will do is move forward from here.