This is a bit of a different trip report of my training for the night rating and flights around LOAV and through Vienna along the Danube at night.
I did the training together with a friend of mine, which afforded me ample opportunities to shoot some footage which I compiled into this short video:
In total it took me 7h08m to finish the rating and 42 landings. This is quite a bit of money in a C172 and at our airfield, especially with an additional fee for night landings.
Still I would say it was worth it for the very scenic views, which I want to share with you guys, and the improvement in my flying skills gained by the more precise flying required at night. The G1000 in the C172 we flew it is a real charm for this kind of flying and I wouldn’t want to miss it at night. I also see it as my first step towards my instrument rating.
This is a small town I saw many times as it lies just next to my home field.
And the joys of having some of the fanciest pieces of GA technology in front of you.
My navigation flight actually took two attempts. On the first night we had to turn around as the weather turned out far worse than forecast. But on the second one we were successful and also got a clearance for crossing the Vienna international airport, LOWW.
This meant we were flying along the Danube river over the city of Vienna as you can see in this shots.
The united nations building in Vienna.
We had to fly some holdings as there was quite a bit of traffic at the time. This turn ended up being a bit steeper than is probably wise at night.
Further along the Danube river, and coming closer to LOWW, lies a huge oil refinery. Which is quite the view, especially at night.
We got a midfield crossing across runway 11/29 at LOWW and flew from there back home towards LOAV.
In all the training days I also had the chance to do some experimental photography. I always brought my tripod into the backseat of the C172. As I am 195cm tall this ended up being quite an exercise in creative stretching.
Night landings have special beauty in my eyes. But I also noticed that judging the flare quite right takes some getting used too and is also depended on the aircraft you fly. A second C172 we flew reacted just a bit different in the round out which made quite a difference for both of us.
Back home and time to shut down the engine and go to bed.
But first we’ll park the plane in our hangar again.
Hope you enjoyed this video and photos and kind regards
Fabian
Nice video and photos. Congrats on the new rating. Out of interest: Why did it take so many hours (possibly in part due to the aborted cross country)? And why so many Landings? Some poor planning by the flying school? Or did you say you didn’t mind fliyng a bit more than the minimum?
Thanks! :)
I would say its a combination of things. For our ATO and airfield its a rather common time from what I’ve heard. I would have said I would have been ready for the solos one flight earlier. We also have a rather tight traffic pattern where you essentially have to turn downwind to final in one turn and descend onto the glide path with 400ft left to go, its quite easier in the other direction where you have plenty of room to get aligned with the runway and onto the glide path. I also had to split up the solos because of the opening hours of our field (open till 20:30 local time, but traffic patterns on weekends only till 20:00lcl and they close the hangars and field at 20:30:00). And I also don’t have that many hours yet (about 140h TT).
My colleague took even an hour longer. Whats your experience with how long it takes?
Well, when I was regularly instructing PPLs at a flying school, I usually managed to time the training precisely so as to complete their night training in exactly 5 hours. It just requires a bit of clever planning, and flight schools or instructors who are not able or not willing to do the basic maths behind that are IMHO not doing their job properly (again: unless the student clearly says he doesn’t mind doing a couple more hours).
On the “proficiency” side, there was usually never a problem to complete the training in 5 hours, because, after all, night landings, at least with a working landing light, are not really difficult. I think the average numbers of landings was usually about 25.
Great photos @fabian thanks for sharing. The oil refinery looks amazing from the air. It’s was pretty spectacular to drive past a few weeks ago at night. I guess the night rating is a little bit more involved than the UK? 5hours and 5 solo full stop landings.
Brilliant pics. I do like the use of a tripod inside the plane 
@Fabian : Really excellent pictures, thank you!
Concerning flight time and number of landings for the night qualification, I must have been on the other extreme. We did it in one night (also in a C172/G1000) back in 2009. 2’50’’ block time (2’15’’ by night) from LOAN to a small field in eastern Hungary, 23 landings within 1’40’’ there, 2’10’’ back to LOWW and landing around midnight. The next morning, we came back to retrieve the aircraft. One of my more exhausting flying days …
The trouble with making proper use of the night rating is that hardly any field (at least here in Austria) stays open after sunset. Eg. in LOAN, they have 1 (!) evening with a few additional flying hours, and that’s Wednesday – the worst time of the week to go flying for me and many others. Furthermore, the surcharges on the already high landing fees are eyewatering.
So if you are not based on one of our international airports, the night rating is of little practical use. A real pitty, because flying in the night is IMHO one of the most beautiful aviation experiences.
I did my night rating in 10 hours back in 1997 or so. Back then that was what was required by the Norwegian regulations. I do not remember whether the couple of hours spent on BATD were included in the 10 hours or not. Must check my logbook.
I took me 8:10 hours and 43 landings in 1984. I don’t recall having any particular problems — that’s just the time it took. There was no regulatory minimum in Sweden at that time, but the recommended training plan called for 8 hours of flight. A lot of it was spent on navigation exercises. There was, of course, no GPS…
My night rating took something like 5-10 hours. It was quite funny… the instructor and I were flying along and he asked me what is that town below?. I said I don’t know; it could be Burgess Hill or Haywards Heath. He said he had no idea either. He was a ~20,000hr ATP. It was a lesson that night flight is 100% IFR and those who think otherwise are just flying in a familiar area, usually at sunset plus 5 minutes when you can still see stuff out of the window 
