WannFly
Final Approach
As we are approaching fall, i thought i should get night current. instead of just doing 3 around the pattern which i have done before, albeit not as much as i want to, i wanted to do it a little differently - incorporate a XC.
First one earlier this week, went to a podunk airport 55 miles away, landed there right after sunset, took of right before end of civil twilight and came back to fargo to ensure i am getting used to the transition time of dusk to night etc. went well apart from a gazillion bugs i picked up.
note to self - avoid an airport next to a lake at dusk
yesterday, went to St. Cloud about 142 nm from here, landed right at sunset, met @Sinistar , took off right before end of civil twilight back to fargo via AXN. pretty nice flight, until i approached fargo. approaching fargo, i was tracking Moorhead , MN and Fargo rny 31 to get myself situated, the city lights doesnt help, way too bright and runway lights turned down. there were 6-7 UND planes in the pattern or approaching fargo for night currency (around 2100), couple of Fedex heavy departing from opposite runway, the usual at fargo at that time.
i was cleared to join left downwind for 18 and i tracked rny 31 to ensure i am on the right path. then i turned downwind and things went out of my hands, as i turned downwind, its pitch dark out north, i lost the runway, i was #2 to land and by the time i figured out where the approach lights were, i was on top of them. i figured this is not going to work, before i could key in, tower came on and asked me to fly on a heading of 090 and turn left heading 270 to join the base. i complied, turning right from my flight path and then making another left turn got me pretty disoriented and i realized i am not at the top of my game, so abandoned my plan of doing another couple pattern work and called it good. i flared high, floated quite a bit .... i was pretty much back in my student days apart from the full stall touchdown that i somehow managed.
looking back, there were no loss of separation, i didnt violate any FAR's , and making it a full stop was the right call to make. I did call tower later from the ground and apologized for the mess i created, they were super cool about it (i think they are used to me making mess
)
still trying to figure out why it happened, here are possible causes and remediation plan:
First one earlier this week, went to a podunk airport 55 miles away, landed there right after sunset, took of right before end of civil twilight and came back to fargo to ensure i am getting used to the transition time of dusk to night etc. went well apart from a gazillion bugs i picked up.
note to self - avoid an airport next to a lake at dusk
yesterday, went to St. Cloud about 142 nm from here, landed right at sunset, met @Sinistar , took off right before end of civil twilight back to fargo via AXN. pretty nice flight, until i approached fargo. approaching fargo, i was tracking Moorhead , MN and Fargo rny 31 to get myself situated, the city lights doesnt help, way too bright and runway lights turned down. there were 6-7 UND planes in the pattern or approaching fargo for night currency (around 2100), couple of Fedex heavy departing from opposite runway, the usual at fargo at that time.
i was cleared to join left downwind for 18 and i tracked rny 31 to ensure i am on the right path. then i turned downwind and things went out of my hands, as i turned downwind, its pitch dark out north, i lost the runway, i was #2 to land and by the time i figured out where the approach lights were, i was on top of them. i figured this is not going to work, before i could key in, tower came on and asked me to fly on a heading of 090 and turn left heading 270 to join the base. i complied, turning right from my flight path and then making another left turn got me pretty disoriented and i realized i am not at the top of my game, so abandoned my plan of doing another couple pattern work and called it good. i flared high, floated quite a bit .... i was pretty much back in my student days apart from the full stall touchdown that i somehow managed.
looking back, there were no loss of separation, i didnt violate any FAR's , and making it a full stop was the right call to make. I did call tower later from the ground and apologized for the mess i created, they were super cool about it (i think they are used to me making mess
)still trying to figure out why it happened, here are possible causes and remediation plan:
- testing out a new O2 set up (no, not a handheld can), i was at 9500 going to STC and on O2 with pulse oximeter reading 95-96% the entire time. coming back at 8500, same set up. about 30 mins before my landing i started getting a slight headache - too much O2? not sure. I have spent some time on the ground with the O2, so this is not the first time i tried it.
- May be my interior lights were turned up too much and when i looked outside in the black hole, my eyes were still not used to the darkness leading to little disorientation ?
- I should have focused more on the instruments when i turned downwind or after Tower asked me to turn.
- should have asked for a practice approach on ILS 18 from FAF and avoid all these drama
- Clearly i need more night time, time to get hold of a CFI and do some more night work.
