Flight Training - May 2015 - 4

RIGHT SEAT

By Ian J. Twombly
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SILENT NIGHT

THE JOYS OF FLYING AFTER DARK

here are routine flights and then there are flights you never
forget. The former might be trip after trip around the pattern, while the latter is usually because of the destination,
the weather, the company, or the airplane. But sometimes
it's because the experience speaks to the essence of flying and why
it's so wonderful.
Like all pilots, I've been lucky enough
to memorialize a few of these in my
logbook and a few more that unfortunately live only in my faulty memory.
Thankfully I still remember some from
early after I started flying, one of which
snapped back to me the other day as I
was reading William Dubois' story
"Playing in the Dark," which begins
on page 36.
I was working line service at the FBO
in Gainesville, Florida, where I was
going to school. It was a great job that

Paynes Prairie that lies between Ocala
and Gainesville, the 30-minute trip was
also very dark.
That put us in an antique airplane
with few interior lights flying over
an undeveloped landscape on a night
with clear skies and little moonlight. It
sounds unsettling, but the lack of
distractions was a gift.
On nights like this when the air is
still, you can't easily discern speed, and
the only thing to concentrate on is the
drone of the engine and the stars above

THAT PUT US IN AN ANTIQUE AIRPLANE
WITH FEW INTERIOR LIGHTS FLYING OVER
AN UNDEVELOPED LANDSCAPE ON A NIGHT
WITH CLEAR SKIES AND LITTLE MOONLIGHT.
allowed me to see scores of cool airplanes and meet a number of wonderful,
generous pilots. One based customer had
a cherry-red and white Cessna 170. (You
thought I was kidding about the faulty
memory. I have no idea what his name
was.) Tailwheel airplanes hold a special
appeal. Apart from their obvious nod to
aviation history, they are, as a category,
better looking as well. Put a 170 next to a
172 and decide for yourself.
Apart from being pilots and both
owning the same unusual classic car, he
and I had little in common. Funny thing
though, flying is usually enough, and he
asked me to fly along to an AOPA Air
Safety Institute seminar in Ocala. I have
no idea what the seminar was about,
and don't remember the flight down.
But the flight back remains special to me
decades later. It was night, with clear
skies and smooth air. Thanks to barren

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you, there's a strong sense of floating
in space. We savored the experience by
saying nothing, one of the few times in
life where that seemed like the perfect
response.
Flying experiences like these make the
whole thing truly worth it. It's worth the
effort, the money, the frustrations, and
the setbacks. They are flight training's
endgame.
As you'll read in Dubois' story, night
flying is not without its risks and challenges. Some of those are detailed in the
story, and some you'll experience firsthand in training. As much fun as it is to
experience the challenges and unique
character of night flying in training, it
only gets better from there.
Email Editor Ian J. Twombly at ian.twombly@aopa.
org; Twitter: ijtwombly; and visit Flight Training
on Facebook.

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Editor | Ian J. Twombly
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Flight Training - May 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - May 2015