My 1st time going into class C at night, any advice?

EdFred said:
And did you seriously refer to someone in the right seat in a trainer type aircraft a first officer?
Click to expand...
Serious? no, Hes a CFI that I have complete respect for. Hes actually younger than me and I am grateful hes willing to go with me. He's capable of helping me out and working the radios and GPS from where he sits. I'm sure he will want to do some tasks that's how he is. And if it makes my job easier so, be it.
Click to expand...
 
Alpha Kilo Warrior said:
Yes and No, there will be two pilots aboard, myself a Private Pilot and the other person is CFI. Hes there a safety pilot for me. I probably could do this just fine solo. But we arranged this a couple weeks ago. Im paying for his time to come along with me.
Click to expand...
Then why the reference to a first officer?
 
If you're IFR rated, file. If you're VFR night flying, get flight following. It will make transitioning to Approach then to Tower much easier. They'll both know you're coming, you'll already have a transponder code, ATC will hand you off and tell you the freq, etc.
 
Last edited:
You've mentioned ego or looking cool a few times. This is borderline hazardous attitude imo. I understand what you mean and none of us want to get tongue tied but it happens, looking cool shouldn't factor. But you should be prepared even if you get lost in what you're saying.

Get Flight following. Have a plan. Get the atis when your at X point. Get the tower tuned in ready to switch. Look at the chart and pick a point to call up tower at X. Let them know youre at X with information for full stop taxi back. Tune the radio to ground before youre on the ground, stay ahead and not fumbling through frequency while trying to figure out what taxiway youre at. Study the airport diagram beforehand. Anticipate what's ATC is going to want before they say it.

And remember to ask ATC to smash that Like and to subscribe when you get that final handoff
 
Racerx said:
You've mentioned ego or looking cool a few times. This is borderline hazardous attitude imo. I understand what you mean and none of us want to get tongue tied but it happens, looking cool shouldn't factor. But you should be prepared even if you get lost in what you're saying.

Get Flight following. Have a plan. Get the atis when your at X point. Get the tower tuned in ready to switch. Look at the chart and pick a point to call up tower at X. Let them know youre at X with information for full stop taxi back. Tune the radio to ground before youre on the ground, stay ahead and not fumbling through frequency while trying to figure out what taxiway youre at. Study the airport diagram beforehand. Anticipate what's ATC is going to want before they say it.

And remember to ask ATC to smash that Like and to subscribe when you get that final handoff
Click to expand...
Great advice, thanks. Im 98% sure I will not be asking ATC to smash anything, however!
 
I did my night cross country from CQX to PVD. The only trouble I had was that I could simply not see PVD. I'd never been there before. I could see the airport beacon and I knew where my top of descent was. I was in contact with PVD approach, everything was going really smoothly but I just couldn't see the runway lights. I was approaching the active runway from a perpendicular angle so the lights were invisible.

The tower finally called me and asked if I had the field in sight, which technically I did but I was flying directly for the beacon as opposed to making a left base as instructed. In a moment of ignorance I simply looked at my instructor for his help. He advised tower that we did have them in sight and recommended that I make a right turn to a heading I don't recall. Once I was nearly aligned with the runway it appeared clear as day.

I recall many years ago having difficulty picking out ORF on a night flight. My instructor back then simply asked the tower to turn up the lights. It made a huge difference. Moral of the story: if you can't see the runway, ask the tower to turn the lights up. They're usually kept quite dim so as to reduce light pollution in the surrounding community. Otherwise, night flying should quite honestly be one of your most memorable and enjoyable flights. Prepare like you typically would and ENJOY it. It's fun.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top