Students learn early on that it takes three landings to a full stop every 90 days in the same aircraft category and class (and type, for larger or jet-powered aircraft that require a type rating) to legally carry passengers at night. Here's why doing only that is not a good idea.
My logbook indicated it had been a full four months since I had last met the night requirements for a fixed-wing, single-engine aircraft. Then came the decision. Three quick ones? Sounds good, doesn't cost much, but does it really address the primary problems of night flying?
With today's runway lighting it is unlikely you will have any problem making three landings. The lights tell you right where to go, and in most cases there is enough light to illuminate the centerline. What's really important is night navigation.
I decided to fly to a nearby town with a runway that, while well lit, is difficult for most pilots to pick out among the lights of the surrounding community. Clouds were at 3,100 feet msl, so now the 1,500-foot terrain between Frederick, Maryland, and Hagerstown, Maryland, became a factor. Should I go at all?
You are starting to see a more thorough review of night flying than if I had stayed in the pattern. Already I am forced to consider weather and terrain. My concern about making the 10-minute trip came from the rain that had pelted the area all day. Would all that water turn to fog while I was 30 miles from my home airport at Frederick?
I rechecked weather radar and the current and forecast weather for both airports. Had I stayed in the pattern rather than going cross-country, I could have obtained a briefing for only the home airport and gone on my way. There were no indications that fog might develop, although as I taxied out the temperature/dew-point spread was exactly four degrees. Now what? That's close enough for fog formation. Based on reports of visibility at airports for 50 miles in all directions, though, it seemed OK to carry out my short flight to Hagerstown, but I decided not to stay there for the full three landings. Just make one to a full stop and head for home, and consider the possibility that I might have to stay there overnight if fog formed. (That "full stop" part is important. No touch and goes are allowed when meeting night currency requirements.)
The automated weather observation system gave a favorable report and because I had checked the weather in advance I knew there would be windy conditions but no strong crosswinds. The flashlight I wore on a lanyard around my neck turned out to have weak batteries, so I replaced them. Fortunately I carry spares. Then I peered out the left window as I taxied and could barely see the nearby trees. Fog!
No, as it turns out, that window was simply dirty. Comparing the side view with that of the front and right windows, I concluded that the left window, while dirty, appeared clean enough during daylight. Although not bad enough to scrub the flight, I had learned that in the future, I should clean the windows prior to a night cross-country flight. That's something I would have ignored had I decided to make three quick landings before putting the aircraft back in the hangar.
Leftover clouds from the day's weather activity were deep gray, not lumen-reflecting light, and they removed illumination from the landscape like a black hole in space. The ridge looked more menacing than during the day, and, yes, the airport runway at Hagerstown hid among the area's lights as promised. The beacon was visible, but I still needed to compare the view on the instrument panel's moving map and, by zooming in on the runway, orient myself to a 90-degree base as requested by the tower. Threshold lights appeared, but not the runway lights until after turning final.
Returning to Frederick, I got a chance to review the required night skills once again. Stay below the blackish, nearly invisible clouds, stay away from the hills, find the airport, and orient myself to a 45-degree entry before I can see the runway. The AWOS told me the temperature/dew point spread was now five degrees, still close but moving in the right direction.
Winds came up exactly as predicted in the forecast. Good job, weather folks (I'd say weather guys, but my niece is a forecaster for the National Weather Service). So next I got to practice night crosswind landings on Frederick's shorter runway of uneven elevation.
There were other advantages to making a longer flight than required. I had time to notice that the aircraft's map light is burned out (it has a switch on the yoke and gets turned on by accident without the pilot noticing), and that the light on the airspeed indicator is not as bright as I would like. After all that, I felt more current and better prepared to deal with night cross-country flights than if I had only made three quick full-stop landings. I knew more about me, about my skill level, and about the airplane's preparedness for night flying.
Alton K. Marsh is senior editor of AOPA Flight Training and AOPA Pilot magazines.
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