Engine failure at night

[midwestpa24]

When I was younger never would have thought twice about it. As I get older, and hopefully wiser, I've learned the risks and do what I can to either avoid or mitigate them. The majority of my night flying has come from instructing others, and usually is either is close proximity to the airport, or IFR (I Follow Roads).

On one of my early escapades as a young pilot, I was doing a cross country at night with another newly minted PPL. We were admiring the lights of the city we were flying past when all of a sudden the lights went out. For a brief second we thought the city had a power outage, then realized we had strayed into an isolated cloud. Hard to see and avoid clouds in the dark sometimes.

And for those who comment about your car breaking down, yes I've been stuck on the side of the road several times, fuel pump failure, trans failed, etc. One thing those had in common is I was not in any grave danger when the engine quit. Not quite apples to apples to an aircraft failure.

 

[Tantalum]

Maybe this belongs in the other flying photo of the day thread but it was taken at night while flying ... Luckily no engine failure in this twin tonight!

 

[Ed Haywood]

Got a late start today and would up flying the last 2 hours of my trip at night. Headwind was terrible and got much worse with altitude, so I stayed at 2500'. Spent the whole time thinking of this thread. Luckily no issues, though engine did seem to make funny noises when crossing Mobile Bay. Thankfully it stopped when I reached the far side.

 

[woodchucker]

Flying at night is rather relaxing. That’s how I’ve always felt. But … if something goes south good luck! My preference is to be over lighted roads but sometimes that is not possible. That said, I don’t intentionally fly at night. But I’m prepared to do so if needed. Being over roads is probably your best option. 99.9% of my flights and night are for currency with an instructor. The remainder 0.01% are with my wife and never planned but sometimes required to get home.

If at night and can’t see what’s below? Full flaps and ride the stall speed to impact I suppose. Not ideal but that’s the plan.

 

[Jeff767]

Got a late start today and would up flying the last 2 hours of my trip at night. Headwind was terrible and got much worse with altitude, so I stayed at 2500'. Spent the whole time thinking of this thread. Luckily no issues, though engine did seem to make funny noises when crossing Mobile Bay. Thankfully it stopped when I reached the far side.

Writeup on a single engine jet in a squadron I was in once: “Engine makes night noises during the day”. Engine was removed and a inspection found a bad bearing.

 

[Tantalum]

Interesting, I'm somewhat surprised by the general "don't fly at night unless you have to" responses here.. it's just another risk that some may accept and mitigate. What has always surprised me is the cavalier attitude with water and single engine ops. We have people here regularly blasting over the great lakes in SE piston "if it's my time it's my time" or "the engine doesn't know it's over water" but the thought of flying at night seems much scarier

Granted, night flying is largely dependent on where you are. On a clear night in a suburban area roads, fields, other airports, etc., are not hard to pick out. Flying over the desert or mountains, especially under a high overcast layer - well that's a sea of black; engine failures not withstanding you are effectively IMC, which has its own set of disciplinary requirements


It's a risk some accept and mitigate accordingly with route planning, fuel management, and good ADM.. or different equipment entirely (chutes, twins, etc.)

Personally I'd much rather fly at night than over water..

 

[Brad W]

On one of my early escapades as a young pilot, I was doing a cross country at night with another newly minted PPL. We were admiring the lights of the city we were flying past when all of a sudden the lights went out. For a brief second we thought the city had a power outage, then realized we had strayed into an isolated cloud. Hard to see and avoid clouds in the dark sometimes.

I'm reminded of a flight once, kind of the opposite of your experience.... I was Northbound somewhere over SC or NC heading up into Virginia. Could see lightning flashes on the horizon. This was decades before anything like ipads, foreflight, ADS-B, etc.... I don't recall what we knew from the briefing but we weren't expecting weather on the flight. Very hard for me to tell how far away it was. I was getting increasingly concerned and might have even landed.... but I was as I recall with my instructor....we kept pushing North. Ended up uneventfully landing at our destination...with the flashes seemingly unchanged on the horizon. It was as if the storm was matching our speed also heading Northbound.
I recon it was weather up over New York or Canada.

 

[midwestpa24]

It's a risk some accept and mitigate accordingly with route planning, fuel management, and good ADM.. or different equipment entirely (chutes, twins, etc.)
Personally I'd much rather fly at night than over water..

Right there with you. I will fly at night if I have to and do what I can to mitigate the risks. I'm not flying over the Great Lakes in a single...period. Thats my risk management, to each their own.

I'm reminded of a flight once, kind of the opposite of your experience.... I was Northbound somewhere over SC or NC heading up into Virginia. Could see lightning flashes on the horizon. This was decades before anything like ipads, foreflight, ADS-B, etc.... I don't recall what we knew from the briefing but we weren't expecting weather on the flight. Very hard for me to tell how far away it was. I was getting increasingly concerned and might have even landed.... but I was as I recall with my instructor....we kept pushing North. Ended up uneventfully landing at our destination...with the flashes seemingly unchanged on the horizon. It was as if the storm was matching our speed also heading Northbound.
I recon it was weather up over New York or Canada.

Lighting at night can be very deceiving...or weird. I was out one night doing a night x-country with a student pilot. At one point the entire cockpit lit up bright white, bright enough I could see through my eyelids (no I wasn't sleeping on the job). My student was like, "What was that?" There was no weather forecasted in our area, and I asked the Center controller if there was anything on radar around us, and they said they had no weather or traffic anywhere near us. I suppose it could have been a high intensity spotlight or something else from the ground, I don't think it was a laser strike because it was white. Never did figure that one out.

 

[geneseib]

Hi all,

I always try to have a plan B when flying, just in case something doesn't go as planned.

There's nothing like that moment when the only option is down on a dark night over Missouri. Made it to a highway and walked away with no damage to us or the plane. 30 seconds earlier would have been in trees and 60 seconds earlier would have been in a lake. Apparently God wasn't finished with us, despite my stupidity.