DEER IN THE LANDING LIGHTS LT RYAN CULBERTSON
t was a dark and stormy night… Isn’t that how most harrowing stories start? For me it was at least a dark night. A student and I were on our second event of the day: a night contact. This event introduces flight students to the night flying environment. We had just completed a day aerobatic hop and enjoyed a nice dinner. Our plan was to do one or two touch-and-goes in Andalusia, Ala., move on to Monroe County, then to Bay Minette and finish up at North Whiting Field. The goal was for my student to see four very different runways and pattern environments. We took off and entered the pattern at Andalusia without incident and departed to the west toward Monroe County. We contacted Monroe County on CTAF and determined there was no other traffic in the pattern. Because of the winds, we elected to touch-and-go on runway 3. 22
The first pass was a takeoff flap landing and was not too bad. On the next pass, I directed my student to go to landing flaps on the downwind. He lowered the flaps, checked his position, and commenced the turn off the 180. I had no idea what was in store for us as we rolled out on final. It’s important to understand the cockpit arrangement in the T-6B. Typically, the instructor is in the back seat of the tandem set-up. Visibility is limited, because you have to try to look around the student’s helmet to see what is happening directly in front of Approach
