Netters Snakebite made her first flight at night tonight. I have had the lights connected up since before the Gathering, but have never flown at night. The last night flight that I was P.I.C. was 1987. I have tested the lights at night for landing light alignment, and such. I will have to get some newer type lights for the landing lights, they need to be brighter. I had a hat with a light built in (Harbor Freight). That worked great but I will look into putting a red light on the dash later. Larry F has one mounted behind his head, that might be an option also. I just dont want to run another wire. I took off from Chandler Airport and headed south to the dark desert. I then headed East and called Williams Gateway airport. Old Williams AFB. 3 long wide runways. I did 2 landing there and all went well. I headed back to Chandler and bounced the landing. Not real bad. What a GREAT experience to fly at night in a big city like PHX AZ. Yesterday I flew for 1.2 hours and besides getting out and back into traffic pattern. 1 hour of the flight was at or way below 500 AGL. I flew a dry river bed @ 50-100 ft @ 130mph... wow that by far was the best flight yet.
Lee Van Dyke
