Getting Night Current at Goose Creek 28A

I went up with Matt last night in the archer… I’ve not done any night flying since meeting the requirements back in Dec. It was a nice reminder of just how enjoyable night time can be… it’s cooler.. there are no thermals to deal with… and it’s a lot easier to see other planes around you. For anyone who is not familiar with flying the goose after dark I’ll do my best to describe the experience. First biggie.. the runway is only lit all the way down for 22. So no matter what the winds are suggesting.. you have to land 22 at night. The second challenging aspect is finding the airport… the lights in use are not the standard PCL lighting system.. they are more like 60 watt household lights in clear outdoor jars. Trying to pick those out is a challenge as they are yellow in color and blend in with other residential lights. The best way is to approach from the direction of the Monroe airport. There is a road with street lights that will lead you directly into a 45 downwind entry for 22. If you are following that road to the north west.. you will eventually see a stoplight… the runway is about 1 o’clock from that stoplight. Once you get lined up on final you see the other challenge for this field. There are trees that are fairly close to the end of 22. The end of 22 is marked with two green lights.. in the winter you can see though the trees for the entire final leg… so when the lights stop twinkling that means you have cleared the trees. In the summer… as I learned last night… you can not see the green lights at all until you have cleared the trees.. and are very close to the threshold. So… keep the altitude up until you see the green.. then pull power and you should be able to land in the first few hundred feet of the runway.