“Fly with Angels, Dance with Stars”
My flying lesson started at 8:00 PM tonight. SO, I got to try night flying once again. All day I kept thinking about the movie, The Matrix. Morpheous saying ” You have to let it all go, Neo – fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind.” I just had to believe that tonight would be better than the last time. And it certainly didn’t disappoint!
We took off from the Blacksburg airport, heading for the New River Valley Airport to practice takeoffs and landings. As we get closer to the airport, I press my microphone 7 times and the runway lights show brightly. Then I press 3 times and they go to a softer hue.
I pull out the carb heat, pull back the throttle to 1500, nose up until I’m in the white zone – reaching about 80 knots airspeed, then putting in 20 degrees flaps. Getting in position to land, then Roger points out that to my right there is a riding rink with horses. (Horses? How cool!!!!!) Now, I have to seriously focus on landing.
“Pull your nose up. Pull your nose up.” Roger is telling me. (I guess I had my nose up more than once throughout the night!)
Landing wasn’t bad. Then I clean up the plane (push the carburetor in to off, pull up the flaps to none, then count 1001, 1002, 1003 as I’m pushing in the throttle). As I pick up speed, then I can pull back the yoke. And, we’re airborne. Roger reminds me that I need to put my nose down slightly so we can climb better.
After doing a few more takeoffs and landings, we head to Roanoke to get a better look at the Star. All the landings went much better than the first night of takeoffs and landings!
All evening we kept dealing with clouds and a little bit of rain.
Flying into Roanoke was like looking at Christmas lights in December. It was every bit as exciting. And the star up close could not have been prettier.
All the things that I did and felt, all the sights seen made this a true magical memory.
“The second star to the right, shines in the night for you, to tell you that the dreams you plan, really can come true.” -song, Peter Pan
The meaning: from dusk til dawn, airport beacons help pilots identify airports at night.
There are different light colors to tell you what TYPE of airport it is:
Flashing white and green: civilian airport
Flashing white and yellow: water airport
Flashing white, yellow, and green: heliport
Two quick flashes alternating with a green flash: military airport.
Green light alone is used only in connection with a white-and-green flashing light: civilian airport.