As I've mentioned a few times in previous posts, the commercial pilot license requires a certain amount of solo night flight experience, and a part of that is 10 takeoffs and landings at a towered field. I've passively thought of my options since learning of the requirement, and my general conclusion was that none of them were particularly good. Charlottesville (CHO) requires about 45 minutes just to get there, though the tower stays open all night. Martinsburg (MRB) is closer, but the tower closes earlier than I'd need it to. Dulles (IAD) would be great, but the A/FD says "no flight training after 2200 local," and you'd be nuts to try to request pattern work there. After some thought, though, I remembered that Frederick (FDK) now has a tower, and it stays open long enough to fit in 10 landings after dark.
At first, I figured I'd wait and just take care of the flight later, but between the days getting longer and the potential for controllers to be furloughed in the near future, I thought the best time would be now. I booked a plane, packed my stuff, and set off towards Leesburg (JYO).
Before preflighting, I set up the three cameras so that I could get some video of it from multiple angles. The video that came from them wasn't the best, but the angles worked out pretty well for the flight itself. They'll all look better with a day flight, too. You know, being able to actually see things makes video that much better.
Here's the ContourGPS shot over the nose:
I imagine that the ContourGPS will always be up somewhere on the windscreen so that it can get a clear shot up to the GPS satellites, so you'll always have that typical angle to look forward to. The next angle, shot from the ContourROAM is out the right window, which caught some pretty cool reflections off of the right wing. You can see the sunset reflected, and the moon as I turn north.
The final angle I got with the new ContourROAM2 was of the panel, which included my back. Phil shoots from this angle with his GoPro, and the end result is pretty cool looking. I'll try it out the next time I fly during the day. Unfortunately, I didn't bother getting a larger SD card for the new camera, so it cut out just before I landed back at JYO.
I also managed to get myself a copy of Adobe Premiere Elements 11, so the video edits in the future should be a heck of a lot cooler. Don't get me wrong, Windows Live Movie Maker is a decent starting point (not to mention, it's free), but it can't pull off what I'd like it to. We'll see what I can put together as I learn more about the program.
The flight up to FDK was nice and quick, and I was worked into the pattern behind another aircraft to begin what I saw as my own version of the Daytona 500. In order to pass the time, I made each lap a game of judging how well I got the nose up in the flare. After three times around, I told the controller taking over for the last controller that I was going to be doing seven more laps so that he knew what the plan was. He worked me in between a couple others who showed up for pattern work, and another couple of IFR arrivals. The last few trips around the pattern were under the guidance of the first controller. Getting closer to the 10 landings mark, I actually lost count, despite making tick marks on the scratchpad of ForeFlight. After an insurance lap, just in case I had double counted a lap, I let the controller know on the upwind that I was done bothering her for the night and was heading back to JYO. As she and I exchanged salutations, another pilot in the pattern checked to make sure I was spacially-oriented well enough to get home with "you dizzy yet?"With the assistance of ForeFlight, I kept myself below the Class Bravo airspace as I got closer to JYO. The landing, which would make 12 for the night, was a simple straight in approach to Runway 17.
I'm off to mess around with Premiere Elements 11 to see what I can to do these videos. So far, I haven't found a feature to correct my bonehead error of not properly leveling the ContourGPS, so I'll try to make sure it's level next time.
Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 0.0 - 76.2 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 10.5 (of 40)
