The RV10 has been serving our family very well. We made several good trips this summer to Las Vegas, Nevada, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Machinac Island, Michigan, Arlington, Washington and the Okanogan to name a few. We even did short hops to Ram Falls for a picnic and Nelson for shopping and lunch throughout the summer. As summer came to an end and the days drew short, I made plans to get my night rating. This would give us more options during the many trips we make in the plane.

Now flying at night has its associated risks. I wanted to wait a couple of years before pursuing this as I wanted a good 200 hrs. on the plane of trouble-free operation before wondered off into the depthless black. Engine out landing is more about survival than saving the plane. If the fan quits all you can do is aim for a lit highway or the blackest area and hope it is a level field without trees. I have been told in the event of a forced landing, if you don’t like what you see just before impact, turn of the light. I felt that flying over the prairie is about the safest night flying that could be done. I soon found an instructor and the training began.

With an instructor in the right seat we headed out for circuits. I was more excited to see how the plane’s panel would look at night than the flying itself. We taxied out to the runway on the dark moonless night and advanced the throttle. The excitement of the panel soon wore off as the blackness ahead gave no horizon cues in the climb and instruments needed to be used for more than just looking pretty. Glancing in and out of the cockpit for traffic and scanning the instruments became essential.

I turned north bound just to get things trimmed out and to see how everything looked at night. The plane flew the same and instruments as well as labels were clearly visible thanks to the led strips and side map lights. Once I was happy with the way everything looked and worked we were back to the airport for circuits. The only real difference I found was the lack of depth perception that could get you. Flying the altimeter was the most important thing to do. Setting up a proper approach was relatively easy and once the lights lit the runway, a soft touch down was not much more difficult than in the daylight.

High River gives the perfect black hole effect and has no approach lights, so it makes it great for training. If you can comfortably land well there, most other places will be equal or less difficult. 13 circuits later (the RV10 can do a circuit in very short order) we headed over to Vulcan for a couple more circuits; it presented a perfect black hole condition as well. It was then back to High River for the night. I hadn’t scared the instructor, and I was totally comfortable landing after a few circuits, I was quite happy to be comfortable with flying the plane at night. I am sure 240 hrs. on type helped.

Next time out was to hit several airports, instrument time including an instrument approach into Lethbridge. This night turned out to be really beautiful. We went to Claresholm, Fortt McLeod and Lethbridge. For the part of the flight I had the hood off, you could see the ground very well due to the moon. On approach into High River I even had seen my shadow from the moon on the field below. Needless to say, I was starting to enjoy flying at night better than the day. It was fabulous. Next time out was to be solo. The plan was to make a quick flight to Calgary city core and return for circuits. Well there was no moon, the sky was clear but the temperature/dew point spread was pretty close. I had a flight briefing and the forecast was good for the flight time I had planned plus two hours. I was never one to always believe a forecast if it could have an ill effect on the intended flight. So the plan was to go for a look see. I filed my flight plan and was soon airborne. When I thought the first flight was a taste of blackness, I was sure wrong.

I soon got in touch with Terminal for a code and was heading direct for Langdon before turning west bound to the core. As the city came into better view so did the fog that was starting to cover the city core. Obviously, the forecast was a bit out. I requested a 180 to return to High River due to the quickly changing weather. The last thing I wanted was to have to choose and alternate airport and be stuck somewhere for the night on my first solo. When I turned around the blackness was a bit concerning. I had been paying so much attention to the city lights that when I turned around it was a totally different view. Black with few lights and the visibility was not nearly as far as the previous flights. It was clear that being comfortable flying instruments was a must. I was glad to have spent so much unofficial time under the hood with a spotter pilot. It was not long I was let go from terminal and made my way back to the airport.

I set up to land and found it amazing at how little help looking out the window was that night. You could really get yourself in trouble if you did not verify with your instruments. The approach went well and the landing was fine, just a little bit of pilot induced stress that the weather put on my mind. I had only flown when fog was dissipating and I had no idea as to how fast this could form. Needless to say, I stayed on the ground and waited for a night with a much better dew point spread. We did not get any fog that night in High River, but I was happy with the decision I made.

Then next time out, I knocked off 15 circuits and had my city tour. It was so nice to be up without the weather on my mind. It was quite a moment for me when I flew over downtown at night. The view was amazing, and I really got to appreciate why I wanted this rating. Flying at night had it benefits.

Next time out was a small cross-country. I filed for Olds then Springbank and back. Of all the times I flew north over the city, I was always vectored east of the airport, sometimes even east of Landon. Well, this night I levelled at 6500’ and got cleared right over the city core and Nose Hill. I was vectored many times but not that far out of the way. The air was smooth even with the strong Chinook westerly flow and forecasted lee wave turbulence. The view from above was amazing, another flight of pure excitement. I was soon cleared from Calgary and started my descent into Olds. I then got the lights turned on and over flew looking for the windsock. The CFS showed two of them so I was sure I could find the one lit one quite easily. Well the sock had the light burnt out so it was a pure guess. The winds aloft were out of the west but Calgary had everyone landing on Runway 10. So I set up for a precautionary for runway 10 for a wind check. Unfortunately it was another dark and moonless night so checking the instruments was essential.

I watch the tailwind decrease as I descended on final and it did not change into a headwind, so I went around and set up for 28. That worked much better, and I was soon climbing out of the touch and go heading for Springbank. I got in touch with terminal and was told to set up for straight in on the base of 25. The Garmin’s display of the approach makes setting up for this quite easy with about a 2-mile final if you intercept it about halfway in. In the meantime, I had been listening to the ATIS and it was gusting to 27 knots. Hmm, I always wondered what it would feel like flying a windy bumpy approach at night. It was only me on the radio with Springbank so that should have been a bad sign.

About 500’ AGL the bumps really started to pound and a quartering crosswind of 35 knots was displayed on the EFIS. I figured if it did not smooth out a bit in the flair, I would scratch the touch and go. I stirred the stick like a pot of soup and made my way down the approach concentrating on the approach lights. I soon came over the numbers and set up for the touchdown. The whole approach did not feel much different than a strong gusty approach in the day so I just flew it as normal. The touchdown was fine and climb out was again rough. Tower asked if I had planned for another and was happy to say no.

Direct to High River was next. I switch back to terminal and got cleared for 6500’ direct. The problem was that bumps were getting worse. I even slowed the plane down as I was getting beat up so bad. The comforting part is that it felt just like getting beat up in the day and the plane flew the same (not sure why I thought it would be different ). After a while I had enough and requested a turn eastbound until the bumps subsided. Minutes after turning the air was again smooth and I got to proceed on course. Landing back in High River was fairly straight forward even with the strong winds out of the west.

Next flight was the dual cross country. We picked Edmonton City Center as you need two hours of dual cross-country as a requirement. The instructor always left the decision up to me if the weather and winds were okay for flying. Edmonton was showing over 40 knots for much of the day on the ground at City Centre and the forecast was a dying trend. We figured it would be down to well below 30 knots by the time we got there. The other issue was the forecasted mechanical turbulent for much of the route. I asked if the instructor had a good stomach and he assured me he did. I did not want any mess in my baby! I made the decision to go due to the dying trend and the fact that Calgary was not showing the high winds that Edmonton was. We were soon climbing for 8500’ and contacting Calgary terminal.

The air was smooth for most of the flight despite the strong northwest wind. Once we got to Edmonton we stayed as high as we could as we knew we were going to get beat up down below. It was not long before we had to get down in the bumps to set up for runway 30. Once cleared to land the winds were gusting 27 knots at about 30 degrees from the left. Another approach stirring the soup and not being able to look at the beautiful buildings go by. Needless to say the second landing was a greaser and about 100 ft from the first . A quick climb to altitude and we were back in High River in just under an hour. Once in the circuit, the instructor had mentioned at how black it was out. It was nice to know that I had flown all my solo time in such conditions making this flight much easier and less demanding.

Next out was instrument approaches at YYC. We booked a two-hour slot on a Saturday morning. This was a great experience. We got to fly three ILS approaches for 28, one VOR approach to 25 and two GPS approaches to 10. The controllers were very accommodating to all our requested. I am happy to say that my panel is all working, and it was money well spent.

Last was a flight to finish of the instrument time. It was a moonlit night that was just beautiful. Unfortunately, I did not get to see much of it under the hood. We flew the DME Arc approach LOC(BC)/VOR for 23 in Lethbridge and then headed for Springbank. We set up for the ILIGU Star RNAV arrival, located just north of Vulcan. The active was 34 at the time of the arrival request from terminal but halfway to Springbank the Runway changed to 16. We simply changed the arrival in the 430 for 16. We then changed the approach for 16 from the 34 approach that we had loaded. The approach was going to be the RNAV 16. The 430W makes for very pleasant IFR flying. We did a touch and go off of 16 and then headed back for High River. We could have landed without any runway lights as it was so bright out that night. It was nice to put the plane away and call the night rating complete. I took the cowl off and dropped the oil as it was time for an oil change.

The plan was then to take the family up for their first night flight. The kids like to sleep in the plane so I wondered if they would even make it to the takeoff. The night was cold on the ground but warm up top as many nights had been. It took a quite a bit of time for the engine temps to come up and fortunately the kids stayed awake.

Everyone was ready for their first ride in the black. I advanced the throttle, and the lights were soon sliding behind the airplane in the climb. A turn north bound for a city tour was in order. Emma and Gavin got to see the lights of High River and that was about it. Emma was out one minute after takeoff and Gavin was out one minute later. So, I guess Jody and on were on a night flight date all alone.

We got clearance for a city tour and enjoyed the lights. Jody was wondering how she would like to fly at night. To her surprise she really loved it as you could see so much. On our way back we sent a quick text to our friends to come out and see us fly over and they quickly turned the Christmas lights on to help in our navigation. With a couple of orbits over the house and a few pictures of the lights, we were heading back to the airport. I smooth landing and taxi back to the hanger assured the kids did not awake. The plane got put in the hanger and the kids were still out. It was nice to know that no one had a fear of night flying.

All in all, flying at night has been a wonderful experience. It is so nice to get out and keep learning new things about flight. There are so many things we can learn from each other as pilots, and we should never think we have learned enough. Training is money well spent. I am currently planning to continue training for my IFR rating. I have been studying the Harv Air online course as much as I can. I am finding out though, that this might have to wait until the kids are older. They still don’t understand that dad needs to be left alone to study. Between family and work, time is hard to find. In the meantime, I will pick away at it and continue IFR flight training. Even if I don’t get my IFR rating for years down the road, the training will make me a better pilot and there is no price tag on training to enhance safety.