Today I took another flight lesson, but this time I got the privilege to talk over the radio.

Not a big deal right? Well...

Like many pilots before me I wasn't perfect, and I stuttered and in one occasion contacted the wrong guy. oops! Well, I'm sure he wanted some company anyway. We then took-off from Linden and headed over to Trenton where I really got to talk with ATC. This time I froze then stuttered. Whoo! I got better at it as I went along and soon it was like I've always done it in FSX. Clear and Fluent.

Well I had some fun at Trenton but it was getting late so my instructor and me headed for home. On the way back he handed me the foggles, goggles designed to simulate instrument conditions, and for the first time ever I was flying blind. The feeling was weird, it felt like being in a car blindfolded. I flew like this all the way home.

I was so fixated on the instruments I didn't realize that sunset happened until I remembered my training was going to move on into the night. When my instructor wasn't looking, I took the opportunity to raise my chin and see what's outside. What I saw was the most remarkable sight I have ever seen. The lights of the city below illuminated everything and it was like my eyes sparkled at the sight of everything. I knew I was not supposed to fly at night before I soloed but seeing this sparked my ambition to succeed.

After being in the foggles and seeing the world at night from the air I had gotten the chance to glimpse into the future of my aviation career. And before anyone asks, even though I haven't soloed, I got the chance to fly at night because it doesn't count in my logbook as night flight unless it's after the beginning of evening civil twilight, which today it happened to be an hour after sunset, and I flew in between sunset and the beginning of evening civil twilight.