NVFR FLIGHT TEST

I had my night flying test on October 2. The route was Moorabbin - Wonthaggi VOR/NDB Ground Station - Leongatha - La Trobe Valley - Tooradin - Moorabbin. Total hours 2.1.

We took off from Moorabbin at 5.30pm and tracked to WON. We did some VOR intercepts which I performed terribly. We then tracked to La Trobe Valley and by then the night had fallen. There was some ground fog that night but we were at 5500 ft and it was clear on top. Visual with ground, of course. LSALT was 3296 ft. 15 miles out I started a slow descent of 500 FPM. 10 miles from the airport I broadcast our intention inbound but maintaining LSALT. On the PAL frequency I activated the runway lights but still had no visual. About 5 miles out from the aerodrome I activated the lights again as I had no visual and this time I managed to see the runway lights.

Perhaps the first time when I activated the PAL the lights had already come on but I just didn't see them. Nonetheless there was no harm to be cautious.

Within 3 miles I descended to overfly height of 1700 ft and tracked overhead to try to see the windsocks which I thought was coming from the North. I decided we should land on Runway 03 left hand circuit. I turned the aircraft around and called "joining mid field cross wind runway 03". Clearly we were the only aircraft in the aerodrome from the lack of radio calls. All went well I did a touched and go.

I was told to depart for Moorabbin and as I was climbing I made a silly mistake. I asked the examiner if he wanted me to circled back overhead the aerodrome to gain height to LSALT as we were already 3 miles out from the field. He did not reply me. Dumb question..... Anyhow as I had visual with terrain I decided to keep climbing past 2500 ft for 4000 ft. In retrospect I should have turned around towards the aerodrome to gain height above LSALT to be on the safe side and to be legal!

At Warragul I was told to divert to Tooradin airport and I selected YTDN and added to the flight plan. The examiner commented I could have selected DRT direct to instead. Dumb move again but it was not wrong to add a diversion way point to the original flight plan, I figured.

Ten miles out I broadcast our intention to fly overhead Tooradin tracking for a North West direction to Moorabbin and about 3 miles out the VOR was showing I was right of the track by 2 dots and the examiner said I was 4 miles out which I didn't know. I made a track correction and did not see any runway lights. YTDN did not have a PAL activation and I supposed this night the lights were not turned on.

I then tracked 300 deg for Moorabbin. I was asked to intercept inbound 330 deg to track via the coast. I bungled it. I should have turned left to 270 deg and then when it was 60 deg off the right nose then turned right to intercept 330. Oh well..... My nerves have gotten the better of me. Somehow flight tests make me nervous!!!!

There were only 2 other aircraft practising night circuits at Moorabbin. It was an uneventful downwind join Runway 17 and then we landed.

I was tense during the intercepts and I am not proud that I bungled some intercepts. As a CPL pilot aspirant I needed to know more and I vowed to know the intercepts by heart..... I thought I did, but obviously I didn't......

I found this simulator for NDB and VOR intercepts very helpful because I can visualize on the computer what the real life situations are:-

Tim's Air Navigation Simulator


Thanks to Tim Carlson the creator of the program.

You will need Java to be able to use the sim.