Parkersburg at Night

Today I flew my night cross country from Clarksburg to Parkersburg and back. Its was fun. I'm doing really well. My instructor has so much confidence in me, at one point he just reclined his chair and relaxed for a bit while I flew.

I'm doing really well with my cross country flights, but, I do have one problem. Cockpit management. Cockpit management is basically how I keep all my logs, maps, and checklists organized while I fly.
I have papers scattered across my lap and the back of the plane and sometimes they fall between my legs and I have to fish for them. I even lost my instructors flashlight in Parkersburg- we found it though. It was under a seat.

The plane I flew in was not the best plane either. It didn't even have a stopwatch built in like the rest of the planes. I wound up using my instructors watch to keep track of my time between checkpoints. Needless to say, the cockpit was a mess. There has to be a better way.

Landing at Parkersburg wasn't very fun. Not because of the airport itself, but more because it was night and all that was around me was dark. I couldn't tell if I was over a mountain or a forest or even a body of water. Needless to say, I stayed high until I reached the threshold of the runway.

I did four more stop-and-go landings at Clarksburg to meet my 10 night landings requirement for my license. I did much better on these landings than the last time I landed at night.

Next flight is my first solo cross country. I have it scheduled for Saturday. Then I should be able to take my Stage 2 check.