The two mini-maglights with cords attached have red filters. I wear one of them around my neck. The other two are unfiltered.
The D-cell flashlight has multiple uses. I use it for preflighting, of course. With the butt end in a door side pocket, the wand makes a useful cabin red emergency floodlight if the panel lights fail. And it is very good for walking around a dark ramp to ensure that I am seen by other people.
Smart! I always had a mini-maglight in the leg pocket on the flight suit for the same reason! Belt AND suspenders when your butt is on the line!
ReplyDeleteYah those LED maglites are amazing. I usually carry two of those - one white, one red/green. For backup and flood, I have a cheap hunter's LED headlight ( red/white ) on it's strap around my neck.
ReplyDeleteAnd I still don't like flying at night. Correction: Flying is nice, the landings make me uneasy. Without a vasi, really nervous. Maybe I should just do it more - have done the minimum required for ratings.
I really didn't like my night training. It was in December, and it took the plane a long time to heat up. The lights were beautiful, of course. I was able to recognize town centers from their light displays.
ReplyDeleteLandings at Tew-Mac's 21 were frightening. The 'runway lighting' covered only about 40% of the runway... from the other end. Descending into the tree-surrounded black hole of the approach end was not fun. You just had to look at the end you could see, and compare it by memory to your daylight views, and strain your eyes all through final.