Tag: night flying

“Make Way for Grandparents!” Greg Brown’s Flying Carpet Podcast #45

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Ride along with renowned aviator, writer, and photographer Greg Brown in his light airplane, the Flying Carpet, as he searches behind clouds for the real America, experiencing countless aerial adventures along the way.

Listen to “Make Way for Grandparents!“ Greg Brown’s Flying Carpet Podcast #45, here or on your favorite podcast directory.

Flying Miles and Miles of Texas…

Among the most rewarding aviator missions is applying our piloting skills to transport ourselves and loved ones to life’s most memorable family events.

Join my wife and me flying 900 miles over remote country, much of it at night, on just such a mission! Now when I say remote, imagine flying from NY to Orlando or Chicago to Denver, over only two communities of any size, and only one attended airport for refueling and possible overnight!

Climb into my Flying Carpet, buckle up your seatbelt, and prepare to launch on Flying Carpet Podcast Flight #45, “Make Way for Grandparents!”

Greg

Find all of Greg’s Flying Carpet Podcast episodes here!

Podcast music by Hannis Brown.

Podcast Photo (top): “Ernie Adams, ‘Mr. Dwarf Car,’ Seligman, Arizona,” by Greg Brown.

Additional Photos

Listen and subscribe to Greg’s podcast via your favorite podcast directory!

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If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love Greg’s book, Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane. Autographed copies available!

Please support Greg’s Flying Carpet Podcast, Blog, & Student Pilot Pep Talk Facebook Group!

Make a one-time donation, or better yet, subscribe your ongoing support. Thank you! Greg

“Ode to Night Currency,” Greg’s Flying Carpet Podcast, Flight #5

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Ride along with renowned aviator, writer, and photographer Greg Brown in his light airplane, the “Flying Carpet,” as he searches behind clouds for the real America, experiencing countless aerial adventures along the way.

Listen to “Ode to Night Currency,” Greg’s Flying Carpet Podcast Flight #5

Even after decades of piloting, night landings remain tough, beautiful, a little scary, and immensely rewarding.

Just 30 minutes aloft displace all the preflight fears and apprehensions with just a single thought: CAN YOU BELIEVE WE GET TO DO THIS?!

Greg

Podcast music by Hannis Brown.

Inbound to Flagstaff at dusk for landing, in the Flying Carpet.

Find all of Greg’s Flying Carpet Podcast episodes here!

Subscribe here to be notified of Greg’s latest posts and podcasts!

Listen and subscribe via your favorite podcast sources:

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About Greg

A former National Flight Instructor of the Year, Greg is author of five books, a former Barnes & Noble Arizona Author of the Month, and recently completed twenty years as aviation adventure columnist for AOPA’s Flight Training magazine. Some reviewers have compared his book, “Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane,” to sixties road-trip classics like “On the Road,” and “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.”

“Greg thinks with the mind of a pilot, questions with the curiosity of a philosopher, and sees with the eyes of a poet.” — Rod Machado, aviation author and humorist

“You don’t have to be a pilot, or even a frequent flyer, to soar with Greg Brown in [his] Flying Carpet.” — Nina Bell Allen, former Assistant Managing Editor, Readers Digest

So buckle in and join Greg for the ride!

Please support Greg’s Flying Carpet Podcast, Blog, & Student Pilot Pep Talk Facebook Group!

Make a one-time donation, or better yet, subscribe your ongoing support. Thank you! Greg

If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love Greg’s book, Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane. Autographed copies available!

Greg’s Aviation Books, Fine Art Aerial Photo Prints, and Pilot Achievement Plaques!

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Greg’s “Views from the Flying Carpet” Aerial Fine Art Prints
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“Dark, Scary Night,” Greg’s January, 2018 Flying Carpet column

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“Beware—the airport you fly into every day is not the same airport at night,” my friend Donna Wood observed.

FinalRwy27-OaklandTroyAirport-KVLL_5404eSmw1200

As a new private pilot, Wood had invested in a Cessna 182 and launched on ambitious regular flights between her Detroit home and Charleston, South Carolina, where she has family and business.

Wood is exceptionally careful and diligent, but 18 months after earning her wings, she’d experienced a scare. Battling unforecast headwinds from South Carolina with her nonpilot husband, Roger, the couple had arrived home after dark.

“I was legally night current,” Wood said the next morning, “but wasn’t planning on night flight.” Her first challenge was finding urban Oakland/Troy Airport (VLL) under Detroit Class Bravo airspace, landlocked by obstacles and buildings. “All I saw were lights, everywhere.” Then, on the downwind leg of the traffic pattern, the runway lights—activated by a previous aircraft—went out.

Rattled, she keyed the mic too quickly to reactivate them. Fortunately, her former CFI Wayne Hendrickson was waiting to help hangar the airplane, and triggered the lights with his handheld radio.

Now flustered, Wood turned final for Troy’s obstructed 3,549-foot runway, high and too fast. So, she went around. But this time she flew downwind too near the runway and overshot final, destabilizing her approach. This began a dangerous chain of events…

**Read Greg’s entire column, “DARK, SCARY NIGHT“**

Photo: “Detroit’s Oakland Troy Airport is surrounded by obstructions, thought-provoking even in daytime.”

(This column first appeared in AOPA Flight Training magazine.)

Greg

©2017, 2026 Gregory N. Brown

If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love Greg’s book, Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane. Autographed copies available!

“Ode to Night Currency,” Greg’s November, 2016 Flying Carpet column

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Tough, beautiful, and a little scary

gregbrownft1116_1139-2smw1200I taxi my noisy little capsule toward the runway, arm out the window, in a cocoon of flashing red beacon light.

I’m practicing landings tonight, and it’s a dark one. Although nervous, I’ve done my homework and the facts say I’ll be fine. So I grit my teeth and go. We learn valuable things about ourselves through piloting.

I scan the flight controls with my flashlight, and perform an extra-thorough engine run up. Then I squelch the butterflies, and take the runway.

Sure, our little city will appear on downwind to base, but every other direction will be black, black, black. Instrument flying skills will be required, and takeoffs anemic at Flagstaff’s 7,000-foot elevation.

First circuit: When possible, I time night flights when moonlight offers a glimpse of terrain, but this month’s opportunity was fogged out. So I launch into utter darkness. It’s warm this evening, and at nearly 9,000-foot density altitude the airplane is sluggish.

Slowly I skitter aloft, accelerating in ground effect to climb speed. Hardly off the ground, I punch blackness beyond the runway. There are invisible pines and foothills down there, and nearby lurks 1,000-foot-high Woody Ridge…

**READ THIS MONTH’S ENTIRE COLUMN, “ODE TO NIGHT CURRENCY“** (Mobile-device version HERE.)

(This column first appeared in AOPA Flight Training magazine.)

Greg

©2016 Gregory N.Brown

If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love Greg’s book, Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane. Autographed copies available!