ever turn out all cockpit lights/night ?

[wickedpilot]

Yep. Departed PDK (Dekalb-Peachtree, Atlanta) for TEB (Teterboro, NJ) around 1830L last summer while the sun was setting. After a fuel stop in CHO (Charlottesville, Va.) the sun was down and the stars were out.

It was a crisp, dark night and we dimmed the lights in our 182 for most of the way up.
Best part was, I had a digital video camera on board and captured the moonlight reflecting off a solid layer of clouds just below us @ 11K.

If only I knew how to put the video on the forum. ???

 

[TurboS7]

All the time especially over the North Atlantic.

 

[Timebuilder]

Yes.

Day before I was laid off, coming back from SRQ.

Farm out.

 

[flyingwildfires]

What a trip!

Yeah -- totally unreal shows sometimes...

Favorite time is when going around thunderstorms, you get to see every single flash, even the ones way inside the clouds.... we've had some great shows coming back late at night from fires..

Also, you can't beat being in the mountains, in the middle of nowhere, under a full moon... Crater Lake once was lit up almost like day... also a few other National Parks... gorgeous.

And -- I almost had a stroke once, in a C-150, flying at night... remember that tiny little rear-view mirror? Well, there was a flashing red light in it suddenly, I was frozen in fear and actually hunched up, waiting for the impact of the mid-air (it HAD to be another airplane, right? This was in the middle of nowhere, too, and there wasn't another soul awake, much less out flying.) I was so scared and when that interminable second went by, and nothing hit me, I turned in shock and looked over my shoulder to see one of the most spectacular northern lights displays I have ever seen in my life... I was headed south... so they showed up in that rear-view mirror! I orbited around with all the lights off and enjoyed the spectacular show, until I reluctantly had to leave due to fuel concerns...

I tell ya, flying is okay sometimes, eh?