“Commander’s Moon”
Easy folks — completely SFW here 😉
So Scribe — what exactly do they mean by a “Commander’s Moon” ?
Well, strictly defined, a “commander’s moon” is:
“A night lighting condition with clear skies and a large (late phase) moon, to provide optimum lighting condition for night flights, and especially night traps. Favored by, and planned for by, O-4s and above to get their night requirements ‘X.'”
Yet, as they say, a picture (or two) is worth a thousand words:
No fancy exposure tricks or anything like that — you can clearly see your shadow tonight with a full moon that by all accounts, might even coax a 2- or 3-star back into the cockpit. Maybe. That far horizon is 30+ miles away and the lights of DC are well off the frame to the left – you are looking off to the vast, semi-habitable spaces of Prince William Forest and Quantico (and across one of the several Civil War era battlefields in the area, this one just happens to be a few steps from our front porch):
Somewhere, someone may actually be enjoying night CQ (or not) — me?
Had enough practice bleeding for one lifetime, but I’m still game for a day BAGEX… 😉
Of course, given that night quals are only good for a fortnight, it means you have to either fly or go out of qual about the time of the new moon! A wise Department Head once told me that it’s better to fly on two quarter moon nights than one full and one black@$$ night!
Of course, one of the proudest accomplishments of my admittedly preposterous career in Naval Aviation are my four-count’em-four total night traps. (It’s a two-beer tale)