[color=#000000]Flight 55
09-12-96
1979 C-172N
TEB-MMU-TEB
1.3 dual (night)
6 landings
"Night flying, pilotage, pattern ops at MMU"
High overcast; wind 040/06
We get started late this time, and it is very dark when we depart.The plan is to head north to the practice area, then land a few times at N07 again. the visibility is poor again, although not as bad as last time, so C. suggests we head straight to Morristown.
I hastily consider the best way to do this. I know my options, but I must consider all three. I could head towards N07 to swing wide of Caldwell's nearby Class D airspace, and approach MMU from the northwest. Or I could call CDW tower and go straight through there to Morristown... or I could "thread the needle", squeezing through a 5-mile-wide corridor of Class E airspace between CDW and the 500-foot shelf of the NY/Newark Class B. I know it's actually fairly easy to exercise the third option during the day, but at night I'm not so sure. But it's an elegant solution,the fastest route, and no more complicated than the other two.
I decide to try it.
But oddly enough, tonight I seem to be having trouble just handling the airplane in the dark... it seems more alien now; perhaps I've had too much time to think about the last night flight.
I turn southeast too early. C. asks "where are we going?"
When I explain what I'm doing and where I think we are, he says "Turn to 100. Now."
I've obviously screwed up. C. wants me to fly by my own wits tonight; he's not interested in coaching me through my original plan of a direct route, so he vectors me north towards the familiar area near N07.
I put aside my chagrin and focus on flying the longer route as best I can. I soon locate N07, and my choice of heading from there to MMU without entering the CDW airspace meets with C.'s approval.
The flight, however, is not relaxing. C. continues to pepper me with questions, and I'm a little confused. Had i no knowledge of this area, I'd have to rely on glances at the chart
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