Favorite Time of Day to Fly?

therookie

therookie

New Member
I was doing pattern work at today and decided to stay out a bit past sunset and gain some experience landing in lower light. (For those that don't know I just got my PPL and only have the mins for night flight...and that was a long time ago.)
As a result I was treated to an amazing sight. On final here at KPUW the runway is essentially alone in a field of snow. With the lower light, the runway lights lit up, and the snow all around, the view was amazing.
Anyway, got me to wondering when others like to be up in the air, for whatever reasons...

-John

PS...I tried to do a search for similar topics but when I submitted the searches I recieved the following error: "Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 12 bytes) in /home/www/jetcareers/forums/includes/class_core.php on line 2964".

Not sure if that means anything to anyone, but maybe it's helpful?
 
I'll fly just about anytime of the day, but as a favorite I'd have to go with early morning. I love the still cold air and the performace you get, plus just waking up to know that you are starting your day off with a flight is really nice, and you're all rested up for it.
 
my favorite is by far right at sunset! it is definately the most beutiful time of day to be in the air. its always nice to end the day with flying...makes the rest of the days work/school not seem so bad
 
I've always liked flying about 3:00 P.M. on sunny mid-July days. Sweating uncontrollably in a 106 degree cockpit, climb performance of about 200 fpm, continous moderate turbulence from thermals...it doesn't get much better than that!

Ok, maybe not. But I honestly do like almost every time for one reason or another. Early mornings are nice because of the calm air and strong performance. Dusk is nice because of the beautiful sunset and lighting...it's a relaxing way to end the day. 2:00 A.M is nice because the radio is finally quiet. I also like the feeling of being the only Cessna in the air for hundreds of miles around.

I don't even mind hot summer afternoons that much. There's something peaceful about making an entire flight with my elbow hanging out the open window, listening to the engine roar along, watching the fields slip by underneath me...all while I sweat uncontrollably from the 106 degree heat ;)
 
Sunrise or sunset is always great - love the view. I perfer to train in the morning. If I go early enough sometimes I can preflight in the hanger...which is kinda a luxury come this time of year in ND :)
 
I also love to fly early in the morning. Like mentioned above, there is no better way to start the day. At one time I would only fly in the morning, and then discovered that my crosswind skills were suffering because there was no wind to contend with. Now I like the afternoons.
 
Sunrise and or Sunset. I took as trip on the corp.jet once and was able to see the sunrise from FL430. What a beautiful thing. As for the time of year, definetly the winter months here in MN. It is a little cold, but the performance you get is amazing and I love the smooth air.
 
Depends on the direction of travel ...

West bound = Early in the day ( Sun behind me )

East bound = Early in the evening ( Sun behind me )


Jim
 
I'll second what Jim said. Anytime I can put the sun behind me or just over the horizon I am happy. The generic sun shades that the plane comes with just don't block enough light. Cloudy days work well too when I'm flying cessnas down low. Not build ups, but that nice solid overcast that keeps everything an even gray.
 
Any time for me is gonna work especially if you are getting paid for it. But so far the best flight experience time wise was when the sun was coming up over Mt. Reinier, we took of from Seattle Boeing field with a friend of mine who is a CFI, I used to work for Alaska Air at that time so we would do two of these every month by flying to SEA and flying a Cessna 182 next morning really early.
 
I like dusk. Especially when breaking out of a 1200 foot overcast layer right as they turn on the runway lights. Really cool flying and a break from normal VFR pattern entries after returning from a practice area on a hot and sunny day at 3pm. Night is also cool when you are landing on a large runway at a major airport lit up like a Christmas tree.
 
Sunrise with a nice cup of coffee!

Okay...i just like it because it's cooler...and it looks better in socal..not too much smog!:banghead:
 
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