I’ve come a far way with my training. I don’t usually get many first anymore because I’m working on perfecting my flying skills, and not learning anything new. However I just finished a flight with a new first; night flight. Night flight is mandatory for students to obtain, and in order to get their private pilot license, we need at least 5 hours of it. I just got 1.9 hours of night time so far.

Night flight is typically conducted the same as day flying. The major difference is that more emphasis should be made at looking at the flight controls while in the air. Just like flying in the clouds, or under foggles, night flight doesn’t offer many ground references. There isn’t a horizon, and on moonless nights, it could appear like you’re flying in a black hole. It’s important to understand the illusions associated with night flight, and also IMC conditions.

I got to the airport around 5:30pm local time. I did the normal preflight briefing; paperwork, weather, and weight and balance. After I got the keys for N157LH, I walked across the ramp to preflight the airplane. As I unlocked the door, the sun was just going behind a hanger. In order to get credited with night time, you need to be flying after 30 minutes past the sunset time. So with the sun setting at 6:00 pm, I needed to wait until at least 6:30 to takeoff. If I took off at 6:25, than those 5 minutes wouldn’t count as night time. As I preflighted the plane, the sun sank lower and lower until it was completely set. By 6:20 my instructor and I were in the cockpit. It takes more than ten minutes to start the plane, taxi to the runway and go through all the checklists so we weren’t worried about waiting the 30 minutes.

Taxiing
The biggest thing I noticed about taxiing at night is that even though there are the blue taxi-way edge lights, it’s still difficult to see where an intersection is. Unless looking right down the taxi-way, adjacent lights, for an adjacent taxiway look out of place. Other than that, it’s the same as taxiing during the day. After I got to the runway hold position, I set the panel lights for minimum brightness and got everything ready for my flight; lights on, flashlight ready, maps unfolded. I radioed to the tower and received the takeoff clearance.  As I taxied onto the runway, I looked down the runway. The sight of looking down a 6000 foot runway with the edge lights on is remarkable. It looked like the lights went to infinity.

Flight
As I climbed out of the field, I couldn’t help looking out the window. The sight was exactly what pictures and movies make night flying look like. There were intersections of roadway lit up, bodies of water without lighting, and I was able to see the entire outline of Long Island by the time I was at 2000 feet. I monitored the instruments carefully and kept enjoying the view. As I made my way out to the practice grounds, my instructor and I went over the illusions. Coriolis, elevator, somotogravic, and all the others. Once in the practice area, I practiced steep turns. I got the plane configured for the maneuver and went over the procedure to execute a steep turn in my head. 45° bank, maintain 3000 feet and keep my airspeed at 90 knots. I rolled into a left steep turn. I forgot that I was flying at night but realized once I started the maneuver. Without the horizon, it’s hard to tell if the nose is pointed down or up. I kept fluctuation between 2900 feet and 3100 feet. As I rolled out, and leveled the wings, I checked the instruments; not bad for my first time, and at night. After practicing a steep turn to the left, I practiced stall recoveries. I did well on these, mainly because it’s almost the same as doing them under the hood. It’s even a little easier since I have a few ground reference points.

As I was flying I realized that while it’s the most important thing, altitude depiction is very tricky at night. While I was at 3000 feet, it seemed like I was at only 1000 feet. And as I descended to 1500 feet, my perception of height above the ocean wasn’t any different. Also, lights can be tricky. At one point I thought that a string of lights was the horizon. However, my instructor corrected me. The lights I saw were actually a line of airplanes inbound to land at Kennedy Airport. There were always at least 10 lights in line, stretching over 100 miles (my instructor said. I couldn’t tell the distance). Finally, after getting a little more use to flying at night, we headed back to Republic for landings.

Landings
Like everything else, night landings are the same at night as during the day. However, the perception of the runway changes drastically. The first landing I did, my instructor had to put power in himself because I would have crashed well before the runway threshold. After 2 or 3 attempts, I got the hang of it. The trick to night landings, or at least my philosophy, is to come in high. This allows you to point the nose down at the runway. Doing this allows the lights to shine on the runway. Seeing the runway is obviously better than not seeing it, so the landing can be made more efficiently.

After 1.9 hours, we taxied back to Farmingdale’s ramp and locked the plane up. My instructor was happy with my first night flight, so I was as well. My next night flight isn’t for another month or so, but next is cross country work.

Today was a great lesson. I made good progress with my short and soft landings and takeoffs.

Soft Field Takeoff
I started the lesson with a soft field takeoff. The goal of this maneuver is to takeoff safely and efficiently from a soft field, such as dirt or grass. I did all my pre-takeoff checklists and lined up on the Alpha side of runway 32. Once I got clearance for takeoff, I put in 25 ° of flaps and lined the plane up with the centerline. Without stopping, I added full power and brought the controls fully aft, or back. What this does is it allows the nose wheel to come off the runway as soon as possible. The longer it’s on the runway, the less efficient the wheel is (due to small bumps in the grass). Today I was practicing on Republic’s asphalt runway, but it was a simulated soft field. Within 2 seconds of the nose wheel lifting off the runway, I felt the main gear wheels lift as well. Once all wheels were off the ground I lowered the nose so I could stay in ground effect. The purpose of this is to allow the airplane to gain sufficient speed for a climb. With the controls fully aft, the plane rotates at a slower speed. My first maneuver of the day was successful. I climbed out at 79 knots and made left traffic for a landing

Soft Field Landing
The first landing I tried was a soft field. The goal of this maneuver is so set the wheels down as softly as possible, so they don’t dig into the dirt or grass. In order to do this, I did a normal approach to landing until I was about 20 feet off the runway. Once there, I brought the power back to idle so I could do my round out. In the round out, I added the extra power, which allowed me to float in the ground effect. This allowed the plane to touch down softly. As I allowed the wheels to touch down, I held the controls aft. If the nose wheel strikes the ground too hard, it could make a divot in the grass and flip the plane over. To prevent this, you keep the controls aft so the nose wheel stays off the ground until the plane is going as slow as possible. Once all wheels were on the ground I took the flaps out and performed the touch and go for another landing.

Short Field Landing
After a few more soft field landings, I started practicing short field landings. Luckily at Republic Airport, the runways are both over 5000 feet long. I’ve never needed more than 1100 feet for a landing or takeoff since I started my training; however, not every runway is 5000 feet. To practice a short field takeoff, we simulate that the runway is much shorter. I picked out my spot on the runway, the first centerline stripe, and aimed for that. In order to stop in the quickest distance, the approach speed is 5 knots slower than usual. Normally, my approach would be at 65 knots, but for the short landings, I came in at 60 knots. As I got over the chevrons at the beginning of the runway I took out all power. As the plane came over the runway threshold, I tried to keep the wheels off the runway for as long as I could. I put the plane down at the end of the first stripe; about 120 farther than I wanted. Fortunately the practical test standards are 200 feet so I was well within limits.

Because we didn’t do any taxi-back takeoffs (land, taxi off the runway and then taxi back to the runway) I couldn’t practice the short field takeoffs. I’ve tried these many times in the past so I ‘m pretty comfortable with them anyway.

Today I prepared for my first cross country flight. Before students start going on cross country training flights, they first must understand what they’re doing. It would be pointless flying to a different airport if the student didn’t know how they got there or what the procedures were for cross country flight. Today, my instructor showed me what I need to do prior to the flight, in order to get ready for a cross country flight lesson

Pilotage and Dead Recogning
First off, there are many ways which pilots navigate the skies. A common, well know method is by GPS. GPS has become standard in all new built aircraft. However, plane which were built in the 1960s are still being flown all over the country today. While some pilots spend money to have GPS systems installed on older aircraft, most planes from decades ago must rely on other means of navigation. During VFR flight, the standard way to navigate is by pilotage and dead recogning. Pilotage is the process of navigating by visual references on the ground. For example, a pilot flies until he sees a point which can be seen on his map. This can be a building, a road, bridge, or anything distinguishable. Once the pilot locates the object on his chart, he knows where he is. Then, he’ll fly in the direction of another known marker and continue to do so until he reaches his destination. Dead recogning is the process of adding math to pilotage. By knowing speed, altitude, winds, and distances, pilots can know when they will be over a known location at the precise moment they reach it. Dead recogning is how private pilots are trained at Farmingdale Aerospace, along with student pilots all over the country.

which the nose of the plane should be pointed in order to arrive at the desired waypoint. In order to get this, I had to add or subtract deviation. Deviation is the error in the heading indicator due to the magnetic and electrical fields inside the plane (often caused by the instruments, GPS, cell phones etc.). Normally, there isn’t more than 1 or 2 degree deviation for each radial. Any wind, time, fuel and distance can be calculated by using a “Whiz Wheel.” A Whiz Wheel (above) is a flight computer; one side has a tool which allows for wind angle correct, while the other side has two turnable wheels for computations.

Once the magnetic heading was established, I needed to find out fuel consumption. In order to do this, I needed to know how much fuel the airplane would burn. Luckily, that information’s provided in the aircraft’s POH. Because I know what my speed will be, and the distances between waypoints, I can calculate exactly what time I should be at each way point. Also, because I know the distance and the fuel consumption rate, I can calculate the amount, in either pounds or gallons of fuel the trip will need.
       The last section on the navigation log is for additional information. There are spots to write down both the departure and the destination airports’ frequencies; tower, ground, ATIS, FSS, and any other frequencies, which are important.

Once completed, the pilot then needs to call the appropriate flight service station to open the flight plan. This means that the pilot puts his trip on record. Once airborne, or just prior to takeoff, the pilot will open the flight plan so the flight service station knows the plan is active. Once the trip has been completed and the destination airport is reached, the pilot must close the flight plan. If not closed, the FSS will issue a search and rescue operation after 15 minutes of expected time of arrival at the destination airport. Because today was practice, I didn’t open the flight plan. However, it was good practice for my first cross country flight next week.

The past couple of days, here in the New York metropolitan area, have seen cloudy skies, rain, and overall poor weather. The majority of the time, IFR rules have been in effect. There are two types of flights, and flight plans, which pilots can file; Visual Flight Rules and Instrument Flight rules. It’s important to know the difference between the two. In order for your better understanding, this post will describe what each is and the importance of both.

Stable Vs. Unstable air
First off, most people associate clear skies, warm weather, and clean air as good weather for flying. This isn’t entirely true. While clear skies are positive to flying, they usually indicate unstable air. Unstable air is described as air with the tendency to rise vertically; which can be associated with cumulus clouds, good visibility, showery precipitation and turbulence. Therefore when one looks up and sees bright blue skies, it usually means planes in the air are experiences some degree of turbulence. On the other hand, stable air is much more conducive to peaceful flight. However, in order for air to be stable, air must be the opposite of that which describes unstable air. Stable air does not rise vertically and is associated with stratiform (or layered looking) clouds, poor visibility, steady precipitation, and no turbulence. When you go outside on a day where it’s overcast and has been raining constantly for an extended period of time, the planes in the air feel little turbulence. Unfortunately, they are flying in the clouds and can’t see anything.

Visual Flight Rules
This brings the discussion to VFR vs. IFR flight. In order to fly VFR, pilots must “play” by certain rules. The FAA defines visual flight rules as “The pilot must be able to operate the aircraft with visual reference to the ground, and by visually avoiding obstructions and other aircraft.” Basically, they rely on sight to fly the plane. The weather minimums, described in the FARs sec. 91.155 state: (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section and §91.157, no person may operate an aircraft under VFR when the flight visibility is less, or at a distance from clouds that is less, than that prescribed for the corresponding altitude and class of airspace in the following table. The chart to the left (click to enlarge) describes what each airspace’s limitations are for VFR. Because each airspace has its’ own level of air traffic, VFR rules are different for each. If, while flying in the appropriate airspace, a pilot cannot maintain these weather minimums, than he or she will have to file an IFR flight plan, or change course or altitude to stay in VFR flight.

Instrument Flight Rules
If weather falls below these minimums, than a pilot must file an IFR flight plan, prior to departure. The FAA defines IFR flight as “Rules and regulations established by the FAA to govern flight under conditions in which flight by outside visual reference is not safe. IFR flight depends upon flying by reference to instruments in the flight deck, and navigation is accomplished by reference to electronic signals.” This means that if conditions exist below the weather minimums, IFR flights must be flown by reference to the flight instruments, and by electronic signals from the ground, or controlling agencies; tower or ARTCC. The FARs state in sec. 91.167 what the requirements for IFR flights are.

Pilots who have not yet received an instrument rating are not permitted to fly IFR. In order to do so, the student pilot must first obtain a private pilot license, then enroll and earn an instrument rating. This course teaches student pilots the operations of instrument flying.

The picture to the left (click to enlarge) shows the former control tower at my base airport, Republic – KFRG. (A new tower on the other side of the field controls all flight activity; however, this tower was used decades ago.) Every towered airport has a rotating beacon, and Republic’s is atop the old tower. The beacon rotates at night, and also during IFR conditions. Also, the rotating beacon identifies which type of airport it’s on. If a beacon flashes a white light, followed by a green light, (you can see in the picture the green light is flashing by) the airport is a land, civil airport. If there is a while signal followed by two green flashes, the airport is a land military airport. When the beacon flashes a white, then yellow light, it’s a sea port; and if the beacon flashes white, green then yellow, the beacon’s located on a helipad.  

Knowing the difference between VFR and IFR is important for pilots. Pilots who don’t follow the proper rules are subjected to license revocation, fine, or another form of punishment by the Federal Aviation Administration