A Little Bragging

[Tom Clayton]

I decided to do a short night flight from GSO to BUY. I plotted out my direct course in the planner just to have it in the map. I set up in the steam 172 on the GA ramp. I decided to do that one as real as possible. I started the plane from cold and dark manually. Then I took the GPS course heading and added about 15° to be able to intercept the ILS for Rwy 6. Of course, the wind was from the opposite direction, so I ended up entering a right downwind pattern following something called "Generic" I flew an extended DW, then base/final, all visual (had the Garmin map for backup just in case), with no autopilot. I still need some practice getting it trimmed out smoothly, but this one went pretty well.

I discovered a glitch in the AI. After I landed, another "Generic" announced he was on base, so I stopped and flipped to chase view to watch him land. Everything was beautiful - right up until he switched off all lighting on touchdown!I could still see a shadow moving, and he announced clear of the runway, so I know he didn't just vanish.

[jmig]

He was saving energy. When I was a kid in elementary school, we had a bus driver who would turn off the engine at red lights to save gas. This was when gas was <25 cents a gallon. He and the pilot of that AI plane may be related.