| Lesson 25 | |
| Flight time logged: | 1.9 hours |
| Total flight time logged: | 44.1 hours |
| Total takeoffs/landings: | 142 |
| Solo time: | 0.0 hours |
| Total time solo: | 9.4 hours |
| Total cost to date: | $7000 |
Yet another month has passed. It has been difficult trying to get a night flight scheduled with my instructor, but finally I was able to fly tonight. I flew a cross country to Washington-Wilkes (IIY). My instructor usually takes his students to Cedartown for a night cross country, but thought that I would benefit from going to Washington-Wilkes instead since it is a "black hole" airport. A "black hole" airport is one where there are no lights around the airport, just the lights on the airport itself. It is harder to determine how high off the ground you are just by looking outside. You really have to use the instruments.
This flight was exciting. You can see lights everyone on the ground until you fly past Athens. At that point, the area is pretty rural, so the lights are scarce. What made the flight even better was the unexpected meteor shower. After passing Athens, the night sky was really clear and you could see a billion stars. I was looking for traffic when I noticed a bright glowing object flying across the sky faster than any plane I know. A couple of minutes later, I saw another one. The objects were meteors. They were amazing!
I did a couple of landings at IIY then headed back to LZU. The flight was uneventful on the way back.
After landing and parking at LZU, my instructor and I talked about the next steps in my training. Actually, my training was almost complete. The next step would be to take my written exam. After he test, all that would remain is preparation for my check ride - the practical test.
