Night lights, night flights, OLC and records

"Andy" wrote in message
oups.com...
Do any US registered motor gliders have approved lighting? Have their
owners operated between sunset and night?

Andy


Andy,

I wrote the following several years ago after an intentional night flight in
my previous owned Stemme (I have an ASH26E now, with no lights). I think it
interesting that some are saying it's crazy to fly gliders at night. For me
it was a unique and very memorable, worthwhile experience . . .

16,000 feet in wave over Mt. St. Helena some 30 miles north of Napa, CA.
It's 2 hours after sunset, the sky is crystal clear with no moon, so the sky
blends smoothly into the horizon with no tell-tale line. Below, it's almost
as though someone unrolled a huge black velvet carpet with a million
miniature lights. The pinpricks of light are sometimes clustered to form
cities and sometimes drawn thin to make the highways between like
strings of diamonds. There are large dark patches too, uninviting sinister
black holes that are San Francisco bay or uninhabited hills.

I've flown power planes at night many times and have always been struck by
the beauty of it. From a glider it's somehow more, though I'm not eloquent
enough to explain it. The feeling is of being more immersed in one's
surroundings, yet more alone in the silence of the night and soaring flight.

I spent the better part of an hour climbing from about 7K to 16K. Down low
lift was ½ to 2 knots with wind out of 010 at 24 knots. Up at 16K, it was 54
knots
with 3 knots of lift. Temperature outside was 5 Fahrenheit, and although I
thought I dressed warmly enough, 50 degrees inside soon felt chilly with no
sun
to warm through the canopy.

When I ordered my Stemme, the lighting option was an easy decision, though I
thought a bit expensive. Serial 11-018 may have been the first VT to be
purchased with lights. It was delivered with plain winglets that I later
returned to the factory to be modified once the design of the slip-on light
module was finalized. I'm not sure if lighting can be added once the ship
leaves the factory, but it might be possible.

Being a power pilot I enjoyed night flying, but had no clue I'd be soaring
at night. I thought the lighting package would occasionally allow the option
to fly back home from Nevada in the evening without having to worry about
making it back before nightfall. It does that for sure and more . . . but
I'm so glad I have the option of soaring at night!