Sunset tour

Fall is one of the best times to fly in western Washington, especially in the evenings.  A big high pressure ridge has set up over the western United States and doesn't show much sign of budging.  It's producing clear skies, dry air, and calm winds.  But the other side of Fall is that night descends earlier...3 minutes earlier every day...until December when the sun comes up at 8 and sets about 4:30...

I've blogged before that I love flying at night, and as the days get shorter it will be all the more important to be night-current.  The regulations require 3 full-stop landings between the times of an hour after sunset and an hour before sunrise, every 90 days, in order to carry passengers during that time period (i.e., at night).  So I decided yesterday to get current and also enjoy flying in the cool, smooth air.

I've really come to enjoy what I call the "sunset tour"...fly north from Olympia, over Bremerton, cross Puget Sound north of downtown Seattle, turn south at Bellevue, and then transition either over Seattle-Tacoma International or McChord Air Force Base, headed for home.

That's just what I did last night, but to log some cross-country time (which requires landing at least 50 miles from the departure airport) I went to Paine Field, where Boeing makes its big airplanes (747s, 787s).    It is always a treat going in there, with all the freshly-minted airliners on the ramp...though it was a little harder to enjoy them in the dark.

To count as a full-stop landing, it's necessary to bring the wheels to a stop.  In a situation like this, where there is no intent to get out of the airplane at the destination, we do what's called a "stop-and-go", where the pilot brings the airplane to a stop on the runway for a second (think stop sign on a deserted country road) and then takes off again.  It was interesting landing at Paine, on the huge runway 34L there, and stopping with almost 7000' left!  That's almost 2000' more than the entire runway length at Olympia!

After Paine I flew south over the Seattle eastside suburbs...Kirkland, Redmond, Bellevue, and Renton.  Seattle-Tacoma was landing north, so I was given the Mariner transition from the tower...maintain 2000', and cross westbound over the approach end of the runway.  It was much harder to do this at night than during the day...the runways are almost impossible to see until you are right up on them.  But I know KSEA pretty well and it wasn't too much of a problem.  It was cool looking out the left-side window and seeing at least six airliners, with their million-candlepower landing lights ablaze, lined up on final.

1.9 on the Hobbs, a memorable evening of sightseeing and good radio work, and 3 months of clearance to carry passengers at night.  Anyone want a ride??