Unlicensed Night Flying - Almost

Flying Hours Today 3:00, Total 48:25

P1 Flying Hours Today 1:05, Total 8:35

Following this morning's practice I was eagerly anticipating getting back in the air before the autumn evening was upon us. Three o'clock finally came around and I took off with my instructor and another chap from the flying school to depart to Gamston (EGNE). This time we were in a different aircraft, a PA28-141 with fatter, stubbier wings.

All the controls were the same as my regular aircraft except for the stall warner. There wasn't a buzzer, instead a light on the dashboard. As we were doing our preflight checks I saw an inbound PA28 having real fun with the crosswind - I don't think I've ever seen a light aircraft flitting around so much on approach. It made me quite apprehensive for the flight ahead.

Soon I was lined up on R28 and rotating. But things weren't right, the stall warner light came on - good thing I'd checked what that was before departure. So I instinctively dipped the nose and gained some more speed before climbing.

The fact that I was in a lower powered aircraft, on a windy day, with passengers and using an airspeed indicator that had mph as well as knots had all contributed to the less than perfect take off.

I was a bit shaken but my instructor praised me, I had done exactly the right thing in lowering the nose slightly so our climb wasn't so steep. This gave me a great deal of confidence because it demonstrated that I was becoming a pilot and understanding and being able to feel how the aircraft operates in the air.

We approached Gamston from the west on the dead side. There was no gliding activity so we descended and joined the left hand circuit downwind for landing on R21. I dropped off my passengers so that they could finalise the planning for a long trip they were taking the next day, and quickly moved into position on R21 for take off.

In the air the early bonfires on this night of November 5th were being lit. The smoke drifting northwards on a southerly breeze. I was using the DME to remain nearby with the idea of circling the airfield from a distance for perhaps 45 minutes then landing.

I decided to make use of my earlier experiences of VOR tracking and headed out on the 030 radial. Planning to fly for 20 minutes then to return on the 210 radial. I approached the Humber estuary in no time and turned to intercept the 210 radial.


But found that my progress was impeded - of course, I was now flying with a head wind. The smoke from the bonfires had given the hint earlier that the southerly wind was quite strong. Add the fact that I reached the Humber so quickly I should have taken more notice of the wind. It seemed an age to return to Gamston, especially as it was getting late in the day and darkness would be closing in any time now.

I was learning a lot from this sortie - not only about VOR tracking but also that I had been caught out by the headwind by simply not taking this into consideration and then not realising how quickly it can turn from day to dusk as I had done all my previous flying in the morning.

The DME indicated that I was inching towards Gamston. I still had my chart with me and was making visual fixes to confirm position as well as tracking the radial.

Fortunately I was on the 210 radial which aligns perfectly with R21 at Gamston so I was straight in for a great landing after just over one hour in the air.

My instructor and colleague climbed on board and we took off back to Sheffield. By now it was dark enough to consider flying by instruments which was great fun.

We tracked the VOR on 030 until 13nm on the DME and this fixed us at the VRP into Sheffield. The crosswind was quite strong, and by now it was a night landing so the instructor took over on finals.

I simply read out the airspeed on the dimmed instrument. Which was a challenge as this aircraft had a scale calibrated in both knots and mph! At least this aircraft had the altimeter setting in millibars so it was one less complication to think about.