camwyn | So here's a thing.

I still have to arrange about three more hours of solo flying, and I have to practice some stuff with my instructor because we're not allowed to do emergency procedure practice on our own for very good reasons (most emergency procedures begin with inducing a low-level version of the actual emergency and if you aren't up to speed on your recovery then I hope you have Megadeth's High Speed Dirt on your playlist). But I've done my night hours, and my night long cross-country, and here's a thing I learned.

When I did my night long cross-country, my instructor had me plot a course that followed highways. Said I could follow the lights rather than have to worry too much about compass headings. So I did that, and for a while that was good, because I had I-93 and I-495 to follow. Lots of lights there. Lots of cars.

And then.

A ways past Lowell, there were no more interstates. Highways, yes, but not interstates. Like, Massachusetts State Highway 2, or U. S. Highway 202. During the daytime they're easy enough to follow from above, but at night... well. This ain't New York City. The highways don't have lights of their own. Not enough people, not enough need. So they're dark, mostly. Can't tell the highways from the trees when you're flying at 1500 feet and it's 8:15 on a November night.

Mostly, anyway. Even out between Littleton and Leominster or between Gardner and Athol, there were occasionally people driving these roads when I was flying. Not a lot of them, just one or two cars, but from my height I could see their headlights and tail lights, where the road went, where they were going. I was glad as hell for those people. Even if they were completely lost themselves, they were at least lighting up the road I couldn't see. When you're trying to make your way from one checkpoint to the next one, three or five or six miles at a time, in the dark without benefit of navigational instruments or GPS, even that little bit of visual information helps. Understand, I wasn't buzzing these people, unless you consider maintaining an altitude of at least several hundred feet above the highway's elevation to be buzzing. I was just following what I saw. I very much doubt if any of them ever even noticed. But I was grateful they were there

If you'll excuse me getting all metaphorical I just wanted to say that you might not be clear on where you're going or what you're doing, and it might be dark as hell out there, but hey- someone you may never know or realize exists could very well find even your brief, passing example to be enough light to keep them from getting completely lost in the dark.