Originally Posted by
GipsyMagpie
I personally wouldn't contemplate intentionally night flying in a piston single. Call me chicken but the 2 min of gliding down into the inky blackness following it going quiet would be awful. That said, Thruxton have a good night setup and might be a good option for a launch/recovery site.
I still recall my tutor's instructions on what to do should the engine fail at night:
1) Turn external lights off and head for the darkest expanse of ground below you
2) a few hundred feet above ground, turn the landing lights on
3) if you don't like what you're looking at, turn the lights off again........
Humorous no doubt but night flying is something else, last New Year's Eve I was able to fly across the Ruhr Valley at midnight and watch the fireworks from above.... and the landing fee / parking / circuits (in order to regain currency and take people with me) cost me less than what you'd expect to pay for a single landing at Shoreham Hypergalatic airport......