Night solo XC?

I live in Virginia Beach and own a PA28 140. Many times I would fly
up to Atlantic City around noon and fly back at night, a trip of about
two hours.
Night flying has some pluses: very smooth air and easy to find
airports and cities with the lights. Only emergency I have
experienced was loss of radio speaker. Had to dig around for my
earphones. Keep one flashlight between your legs and at least another
in the glove box and near by. You do need your artificial horizon at
times. I flew into a cloud one night and came to know the true
meaning of black out. Hey, flying is dangerous. Get used to it.

Try electroluminescent "rope" or Krill lights. Won't diminish your night
vision.

Dave S wrote:
One other thing.. my wife (now ex) thought I was a flashlight
freak.. but.. I never carried less than 4 separate light sources with me
at night.. i have gone from maglites to chemlites to now LED's.. but I
always made sure I had plenty of backup to see the panel if electricals
didnt work right.

Try electroluminescent "rope" or Krill lights. Won't diminish your night
vision.

Dave S wrote:
One other thing.. my wife (now ex) thought I was a flashlight
freak.. but.. I never carried less than 4 separate light sources with me
at night.. i have gone from maglites to chemlites to now LED's.. but I
always made sure I had plenty of backup to see the panel if electricals
didnt work right.

I do my IFR currency flights at night.

I do my IFR currency flights at night.

To Tony Roberts: I noticed from your siggy that you have the VFR-OTT
rating. Just curious.. do you ever use that thing?

Hi Kevin

I use it lots. Because I live surrounded by mountains my way home is
often blocked by cloud, so I file VFR-OTT, fly over the cloud on victor
airways, then cancel the VFR-OTT and file VFR.
I was suprised to learn that less than 5% of Canadian Pilots hold the
rating - it's a good one to have, and even if I didn't use it, it would
be worth having just for the extra instrument flying instruction that it
gave me.

--

Tony Roberts
PP-ASEL
VFR OTT
Night
Cessna 172H C-GICE

To Tony Roberts: I noticed from your siggy that you have the VFR-OTT
rating. Just curious.. do you ever use that thing?

Hi Kevin

I use it lots. Because I live surrounded by mountains my way home is
often blocked by cloud, so I file VFR-OTT, fly over the cloud on victor
airways, then cancel the VFR-OTT and file VFR.
I was suprised to learn that less than 5% of Canadian Pilots hold the
rating - it's a good one to have, and even if I didn't use it, it would
be worth having just for the extra instrument flying instruction that it
gave me.

--

Tony Roberts
PP-ASEL
VFR OTT
Night
Cessna 172H C-GICE

Already have an EL wand that hangs from my neck on a lanyard. the rest
are LED Pelicans that can mount to my headsets. My light collection is
always a work in progress and constantly evolving.

Dave

john smith wrote:
Try electroluminescent "rope" or Krill lights. Won't diminish your night
vision.

Dave S wrote:

One other thing.. my wife (now ex) thought I was a flashlight freak..
but.. I never carried less than 4 separate light sources with me at
night.. i have gone from maglites to chemlites to now LED's.. but I
always made sure I had plenty of backup to see the panel if
electricals didnt work right.

Already have an EL wand that hangs from my neck on a lanyard. the rest
are LED Pelicans that can mount to my headsets. My light collection is
always a work in progress and constantly evolving.

Dave

john smith wrote:
Try electroluminescent "rope" or Krill lights. Won't diminish your night
vision.

Dave S wrote:

One other thing.. my wife (now ex) thought I was a flashlight freak..
but.. I never carried less than 4 separate light sources with me at
night.. i have gone from maglites to chemlites to now LED's.. but I
always made sure I had plenty of backup to see the panel if
electricals didnt work right.

"G. Burkhart" wrote:

A question to the group. Do you normally fly many night solo cross
country flights?

I used to. I haven't had reason to do so in years. In fact, I haven't flown at night
at all in over a year.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.