My second night VFR lesson! It brought us to Lelystad, as pattern work is not allowed in Rotterdam at night. Having to practice touch-and-goes, not being allowed to do so is highly impractical.

Besides, one must complete a 50 km navigation flight (why this is in kilometers and everything else is in NM in aviation baffles me) to complete all requirements for the NQ. Flying from Rotterdam point Mike to Lelystad point Mike is just about that, so that’s what we flew!

From nightly touch-and-goes, I’ve learned that depth is not easy to judge. Nearly impossible. So looking at the end of the runway until you’re on it it is. Don’t try to find the ground while you’re also trying to flare: you will fail.

(Indirectly, I’m saying that I made one very hard landing. Learned from it. Hopefully not again. At least now I know how not to high-five… correction: high-three-wheel the ground!)

One very not useful thing: on LVNL’s paper maps, highways are marked red. Highways are very useful navigation aids, also at night when there’s traffic. At night, you use a red lamp to see the instruments and outside (rather than white, since this will make you blind to outside). With red light, you cannot see the red-marked highways.

SkyDemon it is.