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Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Jun 5, 2013
Description:
This third landing made me (minimally) current at night.
Video at http://youtu.be/Ows3wz6CEhs
Date Taken:
Jun 5, 2013
Place Taken:
KFCI
Owner:
Don Maxwell
File Name:
NightLanding.jpg - Photo HTML
Full size - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZILS0000h">
Medium - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZILS0000m">
Thumbnail - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZILS0000s">
Category:
23, Max Pix
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Click on photo to view the original size. |
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Read what others had to say:
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Steve Kessinger - Jun 05,2013
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Don, <br /><br />-What are the 3 lights on the top of the frame?<br />-I see a reflection of the runway, is that from the camera or how are reflections inside at night?<br />-What kind of night lighting are you using?<br /><br /><br />Thanks,
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Don Maxwell - Jun 05,2013
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Steve, nothing's ever simple--including answering your questions without getting technical. But this is more of a flying issue than a technical one, so...<br /><br />I found several squawks with the lighting, due to changes I'd made since the last time I flew at night. Some of them bothered the digital camera more than they did me--and vice versa.<br /><br />The three red LEDs at the top of the frame, for example, have been there since I was still building the airplane. They look very bright in the video, but have never bothered me at all. However, I'll probably stick on some black tape so they won't show up on camera any more. Of course, that will prevent them from doubling as map reading lights--but then I mostly use electronic charts now, so it probably won't matter. <br /><br />The landing lights are new. They're as bright as the two 55 Watt halogens I used to use, but draw only a few watts. But they also put enough light out the side to be a problem in haze, so I'll make shields to block that.<br /><br />The radio backlight is on the dimmer for the old analog instruments, but it's a new-ish radio that is a bit brighter than the previous one, so it's either a little too bright, or the instruments are a little too dim.<br /><br />The only lights that really bothered me last night were the landing gear position lights. When I upgraded from hydraulic to electric gear last year, I changed from incandescent indicators to LEDs and misjudged the brightness requirement. The LEDs I installed turned out to be too bright in broad daylight. Being too lazy to change to less powerful LEDs, I dimmed them by sticking plastic tape over them. Now they're perfect in daytime, but still too bright at night, so I'll have to change them eventually. I worked around the problem last night by moving the gear switch to the center-off position, which turns the lights off altogether. (I left the gear down for those three landings.) Of course, nothing is as simple as it ought to be: Switching the gear off made the Gear Alert Lady think I had a landing gear problem, so to keep her from yelling 'CHECK LANDING GEAR!' over and over, I had to put the gear switch down just long enough for the Gear Alert Man to say 'Runway landing--okay.' On the other hand, having the gear switch off kept her from reminding me to raise the gear after each takeoff. That was good last night, but could be disastrous on a normal flight.<br /><br />But I don't see the runway reflected in anything. Where do you see it?
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Steve Kessinger - Jun 05,2013
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Thanks for your time, Don. <br /><br />-The runway reflection is at 10-11 from the main runway.<br />-What are the new landing lights you're using? I'm leaning toward the AeroLed Sunray Plus.
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NightLanding
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Don Maxwell - Jun 06,2013
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Ha! That's a funny one. What you see is actually a fade transition where I cut out several seconds of the approach. When I saved the frame to post above I didn't notice that it was during the fade. Here's how it looks in the video:<br /><br />My ten-year-old landing lights are track lights from Lowe's Aircraft Supply. I just replaced the halogen lamps with new LEDs. Most of the new LED landing lights are better, although much more expensive. But if I were planning to land on unlighted runways at night, I'd probably lay out the bigger bucks for brighter LEDs.
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NightCurrency-fade
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NightCurrency-fade
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Steve Kessinger - Jun 06,2013
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Cool effect, you could tell people you hit the Warp Speed button on short final. :-)<br /><br />Thanks, Don.
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Frank A. Carr - Jun 05,2013
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Congratulations Don, you're braver than I. I'm not even night current in my Piper Archer!
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Daniel Paul Myers - Jun 05,2013
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Now try landing on glassy water at night...thats a fun one!
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Don Maxwell - Jun 05,2013
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Ah, no, thanks, Daniel. I did two splash-and-goes earlier in the evening, just after sunset, but there was still plenty of light.<br /><br />But I was thinking about water landings because I was doing wheelers, which are essentially glassy-water landings on the runway.<br /><br />I was thinking about lots of things all night, beause the 11 o'clock news lead story was about a guy here who did a gear-down water landing yesterday on the same lake that I landed on last evening. I never saw his airplane but must have flown right over it.<br /><br />There was more to think about, as well: A big black Blackhawk helicopter was parked on the ramp, with no visible markings--or at least, none that I noticed when I taxied past it, once during twilight and again after dark. Carol, who was watching my night landings from the terminal said that two guys in civvies, whom we'd seen earlier in the terminal, walked out to the black helo while I was taking off for the night landings. I heard them on the radio, announcing their takeoff between my first and second landings. (So I know my radio was working then.) Carol said that on my second approach, a fixed-wing airplane was following me, above and behind, and that it shined a spotlight on my SeaRey, lighting it up so she could see it. I never saw either the airplane or the light, and I heard nothing on the radio. She said the mystery plane turned left and flew away when I was on short final.
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