Night Xcountry KAPV KCCB

The flight for our night xcountry was schedule for Friday, at 7:30.  For this flight we had to go further than 100 miles, and I still needed 4 landings to complete the requirements of 10 night landings.  So we were going to fly to Apple Valley and perform 3 landings there.  While in route we would do some hood work to get the requirements met.  That would put the 92 mile trip well into 100 with the hood work we were doing, and changing course to compass headings.   Then come back to Van Nuys and do the 4^th landing there at our home field.  I think he chose Apple Valley for a few reasons.  There is terrain around there that I need to be wary of, there is KVCV airspace right up on KAPV.  Additionally one of the runways is closed at night, so that should make it a little easier (I don’t think mike expected me to know that.  He was impressed when I told him that they runway was closed at night).  The proposed flight would take us from Van Nuys, north to Magic Mountain (VPLMM), then track the 053 degree inbound radial to the Palmdale VOR (PMD), at which point, we would the track the 081 degree outbound radial, to just past Southern California Logistics (KVCV).  Once out of KVCV airspace we would descend, while entering crosswind into the pattern, then I would continue downwind, at which time our altitude should be pattern altitude.

So by 6:30 I had the weather.  There were thunderstorm cells all over the place.  But they were at 15000’, so we were going to be well below them.  Most of the storms should be just north of our route, or to the west, and I was fine with both of those.  I’m glad we have the g1000 for this trip, as it has topology, so I can see if I’m close to any terrain around us, and we have the NEXRAD as well, so we would be able to monitor the weather.  I was at first iffy about the trip, as I was not comfortable with the weather, but mike ensured me it would be fine, and at first sign of deteriorating weather we would turn back.  We did not want to climb over mountainous terrain with downdrafts from the storms.  So we had it as a readily available option to turn back at any time.  So I felt better about it at that point.  I also did not hear once during my call to WXBRIEF “VFR NOT RECOMMENDED”.  They just told me about all of the thunderstorms around the area, and any Sigmets/Airmets that were current. 

I met mike at the airport at 7:30 and soon I was doing my preflight.  The plane was fine, although it was hard to see the oil level in the dark with a flashlight.  I think the oil was just changed, as it was almost clear color.  Although with the touch of my finger I could feel the oil was between the 6 and 8 on the dip stick.  I was also using just a blue/green/or red light as I did not want to look at or have a bright white light anywhere close to me to screw up my night vision, so that might be why it was so hard to see on the dipstick.  Soon we were inside to start her up, and I took an extra 5 minutes to get the AFD in the front pocket, all pens and flashlights in a place that I could easily find in the dark, as well as getting my flight plan, and sectional charts in order and in the correct places.  I got my checklist in the front pocket as well.  Ran through the checklist, and we were ready to go.   Contacted tower and was told to stand by for landing traffic.  Once I heard that, I turned off the taxi lights and just kept on the beacon and nav lights.  I did not want to blind the landing traffic. 

We were cleared for a right downwind departure at the flood basin.  We climbed to 2000’ and maintained altitude until we were out of Burbank’s airspace.  Then we initiated a climb up to 5500’.  This would get us over the mountains and leave us with sufficient room of buffer from the mountains.  At the Newhall pass, we turn to start and follow the 14 freeway.  It is the lowest point going through the mountains, and if we lose an engine, we have something to land on, rather than mountains and darkness.  This is one of mikes biggest things about xcountry is making sure to ALWAYS have somewhere to put her down if needed.  He is always telling me on my xcountry solo’s to always have somewhere in mind at all times, that I can put her down if needed.  Because you never know when to expect a failure and you always want a way out in those cases.

During this entire time, we are seeing the lightning strikes everywhere in the sky.  Just about everywhere you looked, you would see lightning cutting through the clouds and lighting up the sky like it was day time for a slight moment.  Then back to darkness.  It was unnerving, surreal, and beautiful all at the same time.

Once we got to 5500’, Mike tells me, put on the hood.  I ask him to take control the aircraft as I put it on.  But we have to make sure who has the airplane.  Once I asked him he said “Sure.  I have the airplane”.  I then repeated “You have the airplane”, and then he repeated “I have the airplane”.  You ALWAYS want to do this 3 step procedure, as to ensure positive transfer of control of the aircraft by someone.  I told mike, he had the airplane, he told me he had the airplane, and I repeated so he knows I heard he has the plane.  Then I let go of the controls.  I did not release until that was complete, as I wanted someone to have control of the airplane at all times.  This is a MUST in your check ride as well.  The examiner likes to see that someone is in control of the plane at every moment, and that you both know exactly who is controlling the aircraft.

I put the hood on and he gives control of the aircraft back to me.  He then puts a little twist on it.  He takes a wash rag, and covers the PDF and says I just had a failure of the PDF.  I don’t think he was expecting what I did next as it caught him off guard.  I push the red reversionary mode button and brought the PDF to the MDF screen.  He tells me that’s cheating and takes a wash rag and puts it over that one as well.  CRAP.  Now to the standby gauges.  Now all I have is the Attitude indicator, airspeed, altitude, and the compass. 

This was my first time flying with the compass.  He tells me to turn to a 050 heading.  I turn to what direction I think I need to turn to get there on the compass and the compass goes the opposite way.  So the compass is backwards.  If the number is to the right, you need to go to the left to get to it.  Then he asks me when the compass is accurate.  I told him in un-accelerated straight and level flight.  Correct.  Then he asks if I turn to different headings what the compass would do.  I knew of ANDS and NOSL but did not know about UNOS.  These are the deviations of the compass during flight.  *Note these are for the northern hemisphere:

ANDS: Accelerate North, Decelerate South.  So if your speed up it will show a heading change to the north.  And decelerate will show a heading change to the south.

NOSL: North Opposite, South Lead.  If you turn from a north heading, the compass will initially show a turn in the opposite direction, and then catch up.  If you turn from a south heading, the compass will initially show a turn in the correct direction, but at a much faster rate than is actually occurring.

UNOS: Undershoot North, Overshoot South.  If we turn to a north heading, we need to undershoot our compass heading by about 30 degree for north.  If we wanted to turn to 45 degree heading we would undershoot by about 15 degree.  And on east/west we do not under/over shoot.  If we turn to a south heading, we need to overshoot our compass heading by about 30 degree for south.  If we wanted to turn to 225 degree we would overshoot by about 15 degree.  And on east/west we do not overshoot.

Mike told me a good way to remember which way to turn.  It’s like a clock.  If you want a bigger number in the heading turn clockwise.  If you want a smaller number, turn counter clockwise.  That helped a lot while I was flying to think about it that way.  It much easier to remember something, when you can relate it to something you are familiar with.    We did this for about an hour, turning back and forth to different headings.  The entire time though, we stayed within 100 feet of our altitude, and stayed practically right on our headings. 

Mike asks me to take off the hood, which I do.  Then he asks me where we are.  He zoomed out the GPS screen so I can only see we are in California.  But was uncertain where we were exactly.  So I use my trusty sectional chart.  I took at a VOR that is in the area of where we are, and find out what outbound radial we are on.  Turns out we were on the 081 degree radial from the PMD VOR.  Then I tune the EDW VOR and find out we are on the 150 degree radial.  That means we were just due east of Gray Butte Private airfield.  We zoom into the GPS and sure enough, we were only a few miles from the airstrip.  Perfect lost procedure to find out where we are.  The lost procedures are pretty easy, with the exception being night flight.  You cannot use ground references as easily as during the day time.  So VOR navigation is extremely important at night.

We continue our flight over to KAPV, but cannot really see it yet.  I queue the microphone a few times to get the lights to turn on, but we are still unable to see it.  Once out of the KVCV airspace we begin our decent, but also make sure to keep some buffer between us and the ground, since we cannot see any obstructions or mountains in our way.  We get to where the airport is, and still cannot see it.  We fly what would be a normal pattern and mike tells me he sees the runway below but still no lighting.  I’m guessing one of the lightning strikes cut the power to the airport. 

So now we have a real life diversion on our hands.  We initiate a climb up to 6500, and mike tell me we are going to cable airport KCCB, next to Ontario.  He then tunes, 122.0 for flight watch, and request a updated weather briefing, as well as inform them of the power outage at KPAV.  The weather is still looking ok over in the inland valley.  So we now are going to KCCB to get my night landings in to meet the requirements.  Once at 6500’, I pull out my sectional, AFD, and start calculating some things, as well as getting frequencies, weather, runways.  I get everything tuned in, get weather from Ontario, since KCCB does not have an ATIS/ASOS/AWOS.  We are going to be using runway 24 to land, as they are using 26 at Ontario.

From where we are currently flying we would come straight in for a landing.  So once over the mountains, into the inland valley, we begin our descent so we can stay well below Ontario’s Class C airspace.  We maintain 2500.  We stay right on the edge of Ontario’s airspace until right at Cable.  It was easy to see the airport while coming in, but I could not see the runway even with the lights on.  Once we got closer thought, the runway quickly became apparent. 

I announce the position of our aircraft while in route to the CTAF, and announce each 5 miles just about.  The first landing we were high and had a little excess airspeed.  So we floated down about half the runway before touching down.  If we would have floated any longer, I would have elected for a go around, but we still had quite a bit of runway left for stopping.  Upon landing, mike had the same feeling.  He was wondering if I was going to do a go around, but said he would have landed when I did as well.  But any further and he would have initiated a go around.  Funny how both of us fly the same and have the same reactions. 

We perform a taxi back, and take back off into the pattern.  We do another lap in the pattern, and perform a second landing.  The entire time mike and I were talking.  Not sure if that means I am a lot more comfortable now with flying to where I can talk, and not have to fully concentrate on everything I’m doing, as it’s more of a second nature now.  The second landing was much better.  I dislike KCCB as the runway has dips and humps and bumps and the airplane gets moved around a lot when landing.  It also makes braking a bit more difficult and you are in need of constant rudder adjustments to keep the plane on the runway.  We take back off and perform one more lap in the pattern.  This makes 3 landings thus far, and now landing at KVNY would make 4 and complete my requirements. 

The third landing was the best one yet, although I’m a fan of being above glideslope at night rather than below or on glide slope.  I like to give myself some extra buffer for the, what if.  We land and mike commends me for that landing, and then we take back off to come home to KVNY.  We initially climbed to 4500 to stay above other airspace, and once at KEMT we started our descent to 2500 to stay below the outer ring of Burbank at 3000’.  Contact Burbank about 5 miles out and request westbound transition to KVNY.  They vector me in for a left base for runway 16R.  Then hand me off to KVNY just before the Budweiser factory, and I get cleared to land on runway 16R.  Landing there was awesome too.  Good airspeed, good glide slope.  The airplane was flying the approach by itself without me intervening.  I set it up and didn't really touch anything except to round out and flare.


Mike liked my progress through the flight and liked how i kept within PTS limits during the hood work.  I'm suppose to do one more night flight tomorrow, and do some additional hood work so i get my requirements close to being complete.  We are also suppose to land at Burbank.  This will be my first time landing at a class c airport.  I did some reading on this, and it is practically the same thing, except i have to contact approach control and they will hand me off to tower to land.  So it's not too much different than a normal flight into a class D airspace.  Then i have my last long xcountry the Sunday after that.  Stay tuned!