Eddie P
Well Known Member
He’ll fellow 8 drivers.
I am very comfortable landing my 8 in a diverse set of conditions. I abdolutely love this airplane. All my flying in the 8 so far has been in daylight. I will likely be looking to do some traveling in the machine and that means the option to comfortably land after dark or takeoff before sun up is desirable to be flexible. I’ve got a lot of night experience but no night experience in taildraggers.
My setup is adjustable lighting in the cockpit, “Advanced” (efis) display and ForeFlight iPad mini. Landing and Taxilights are standard “old school” halogen. My WAG is to plan a first night operation in the RV-8 as a basic traffic pattern session on a nice evening at home base (to avoid loading up with complication up here in mountain country). So really, in my case, I am looking to transition my “night knowhow” into very specific RV-8 and taildragger night knowhow. While these skills share some foundations they are also totally different in the landing portion when it comes to depth perception and visibility. Any RV-8 night drivers care to share some tips? One buddy of mine flys a 6 and says he 3 point lands all night arrivals, for example. I’m comfortable in 3 point and wheel landings in my 8 but I would have guessed a wheel landing would have been preferred for better runway visibility on that last foot. Anyway, that shows my lack of experience in this specific area. Yeah, there are probably lots of pros and cons to each as well. Please comment if you have some experience and of course thanks in advance! Ed
I am very comfortable landing my 8 in a diverse set of conditions. I abdolutely love this airplane. All my flying in the 8 so far has been in daylight. I will likely be looking to do some traveling in the machine and that means the option to comfortably land after dark or takeoff before sun up is desirable to be flexible. I’ve got a lot of night experience but no night experience in taildraggers.
My setup is adjustable lighting in the cockpit, “Advanced” (efis) display and ForeFlight iPad mini. Landing and Taxilights are standard “old school” halogen. My WAG is to plan a first night operation in the RV-8 as a basic traffic pattern session on a nice evening at home base (to avoid loading up with complication up here in mountain country). So really, in my case, I am looking to transition my “night knowhow” into very specific RV-8 and taildragger night knowhow. While these skills share some foundations they are also totally different in the landing portion when it comes to depth perception and visibility. Any RV-8 night drivers care to share some tips? One buddy of mine flys a 6 and says he 3 point lands all night arrivals, for example. I’m comfortable in 3 point and wheel landings in my 8 but I would have guessed a wheel landing would have been preferred for better runway visibility on that last foot. Anyway, that shows my lack of experience in this specific area. Yeah, there are probably lots of pros and cons to each as well. Please comment if you have some experience and of course thanks in advance! Ed
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