Landing Lights

“Get the plane gliding in a controlled descent,” he said, “then attempt to restart the engine and make a ‘Mayday’ call. The only difference between day and night flying is that the terrain below will not be clearly visible, so you should point the aircraft toward whatever looks like a clear area and it should be pointing into the wind.”

“Then what?” I asked.

“Conserve your battery, so don’t turn on your landing lights until you’re close to the ground. If you like what you see, land.”

“Okay, but what if I don’t like what I see?”

My instructor gave me a compassionate look inside that dim cockpit, then said softly, “Turn off the landing lights.”