As I had scheduled my lesson from 8:00pm to 10:00pm, I had a little bit of downtime at home before leaving for the airport. It was nice not having to rush through dinner, especially as Melodie's mom had brought over a really tasty pasta salad! I left for the airport just after 7:30, and arrived twenty minutes later, still daylight out, but definitely cooler than it had been in the afternoon. I inspected the airplane while Bob finished up with his previous student, they had taken the Cessna 172 out, so the 152 was nice and cool. Everything checked out just fine, although the horizontal stabilizer had ants exploring it, so they came along for the ride.
By the time we were ready to taxi out, the sun was almost touching the horizon, and the air was dead calm. During the time from Sunset to Sunrise, the FAA wants the airplane's Navigation Lights and Beacon Lights lit at all times, so we had to turn them on before even starting the engine.
In the run-up area, Bob called the tower and asked for the Light Gun signals, which the controller in the tower provided. As the tower was between us and the sunset, we could watch his silhouette as he got out of his chair and retrieved the light gun, which was hanging from the ceiling. We got the Green, Red and White lights, thanked him for the assistance, and declared that we were run-up complete.
Once we were given clearance to the west departing from runway 1 Left, we took off, climbed to 1100 feet, and turned into the sunset. The sun had slipped below the horizon, so as we climbed, the ground was all dark black, but the Arkansas River and Keystone Lake were ahead, and reflecting the sunset, it was quite a sight!
We continued to the west, climbing up to 2,500 feet. When we were south of Sand Springs Pogue airport, Bob showed me how to operate their radio controlled landing lights by tuning to the airport tower frequency, and just clicking the transmit button seven times in five seconds. The Runway Approach Indicator Lights (RAIL) lit up and started flashing, we could adjust their intensity by transmitting clicks again.
We climbed up to 3,500 feet and did some stalls and steep turns, my best to date! Then an emergency descent followed by an emergency landing approach due to simulated engine failure. When we were done with those, we headed back to the airport for some pattern work, and as it was completely dark by this time, we decided to knock out some of the ten required full-stop night landings.
I was given clearance to land on 1 Left, using a left traffic pattern, it took me a little while to pick out the runway lights from the highway and building lights in the area, but they're easy enough to find once you know what to look for. The first landing went well, except that the approach indicator lights at the airport were either off, or not working, Bob called the tower to ask, and they flipped the switch off and on, and the lights were working again.
After coming to a complete stop on the runway, we reset everything, gave it a full serving of beans, and took back off. The second landing approach I turned onto final a little late, and so had to turn further around to get the runway lined up properly. Bob explained how to perform a Short Field Landing, by raising the flaps immediately after the touchdown, hard on the brakes, and pull back on the controls for extra drag. After coming to a rapid stop, we took off and went back around.
The Third landing went well, but I flared a little too early on the fourth landing, so it touched down a bit roughly. As the Control Tower closed at 10:00pm, and the night landings have to be at a tower controlled airport to count, we decided to call it a night.
After getting the Cessna parked, Mike and Kenzie walked up, they had been listening in on the radio, and had arrived in time to see my final landing.
We all went back into the Flight School building, where Bob and I went over the lesson, and talked about what we would do on Saturday. The plan is to do some more pattern work, then if I feel up to it, and Bob thinks I have done well in the pattern, he will exit the aircraft (on the ground) and I will solo!
I have to get my pre-solo written exam done today or tomorrow, and take it with me on Saturday, so I had better get to work on that!
More to Come!
-Gareth
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