Flying circuits and landings at night
By now, regular readers of this series should be competent in general VFR flying at night. This issue, we start to wind up our night flying training by preparing for a cross-country navigation exercise, while learning how to handle any surprises that may occur along the way.

I haven’t developed a stutter but am instead referring to a very old aviation adage - Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. If there is ever a time that you need to spend time planning a flight, it is before you depart on a visual night cross-country exercise. None of the planning is difficult and much of it was covered in Stage 2 of Back to Basics. We will therefore be focusing on the differences between planning and navigating at night rather than explaining each step that has been covered in the earlier series.

Examine your route