denverpilot
Tied Down
Something is wrong with the original story as posted. I suspect a communications error between instructor and student.
A 150 will fly around all day at flaps 40 in standard atmospheric conditions and proper loading. Up here in the summertime, not so much. But you don't load them full of fuel and two big people and create yourself a significant performance problem that's easily avoided by leaving the tanks half-full, either.
It's all in the POH. Get to studying and ask the instructor if they really thought a 150 will ALWAYS come down with flaps 40. If they say yes, find a different instructor.
As far as the lights going out, these airplanes are old and things will fail. Plan backups (as some have mentioned) or at least always know your "out". I assume your instructor had a plan to put the airplane on the ground safely without electrical power at night. Ask the instructor what the plan was. If they say they didn't have one, find a different instructor.
Lots of folks have said you needed a handheld radio. You didn't. But you did need a flashlight.
With the correct plan to go to the right airport, and training to land without the landing light, and a decent flashlight (I prefer headlamps, less to hold in my hands...), a night electrical outage is interesting, not an emergency.
I suspect at your level of experience, both questions will be answered more positively than my "find a different instructor" scenarios, and the instructor isn't telling you the whole story. But you should ask.
[Edited because autocorrect choosing wrong words ****es me off.]
A 150 will fly around all day at flaps 40 in standard atmospheric conditions and proper loading. Up here in the summertime, not so much. But you don't load them full of fuel and two big people and create yourself a significant performance problem that's easily avoided by leaving the tanks half-full, either.
It's all in the POH. Get to studying and ask the instructor if they really thought a 150 will ALWAYS come down with flaps 40. If they say yes, find a different instructor.
As far as the lights going out, these airplanes are old and things will fail. Plan backups (as some have mentioned) or at least always know your "out". I assume your instructor had a plan to put the airplane on the ground safely without electrical power at night. Ask the instructor what the plan was. If they say they didn't have one, find a different instructor.
Lots of folks have said you needed a handheld radio. You didn't. But you did need a flashlight.
With the correct plan to go to the right airport, and training to land without the landing light, and a decent flashlight (I prefer headlamps, less to hold in my hands...), a night electrical outage is interesting, not an emergency. I suspect at your level of experience, both questions will be answered more positively than my "find a different instructor" scenarios, and the instructor isn't telling you the whole story. But you should ask.
[Edited because autocorrect choosing wrong words ****es me off.]
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