Experiences with Night Flight

Transvection

Transvection

Pre-Flight
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Dec 16, 2014
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Raleigh, NC
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Transvection
I did my first night flight last night and thought it was really cool. We only stayed in the pattern and the wind was a light crosswind so it was a pretty serene experience. Before hand I have read about some pretty bad experiences with night flight that turned some people off. It got me to thinking, How did you night flying experience go?
 
My plane got broke. CFI let me land it short and we hit the front edge of the runway and ripped off the nosewheel. Got lucky. Plane got fixed. Other than that I liked it.
 
I fly at night from time to time. I actually took my new to me Mooney up recently, just to have the currency in case I needed it. Realized that the number one comm display didn't work correctly. It was still pretty easy, and did all my landings. The only bad think I can see about flying at night is you really need to know where the clouds are, because you can't see them until you're in them.

That, and if you're flying in an unpopulated area or over a large body of water you'd better be pretty comfortable flying on instruments. You may not see much, especially on a cloudy night.
 
Winds tend to be lighter, traffic lighter, performance better due to cooler air, and you can see things FAR off. You can also see terrain far better than you would expect, whether in the city or the boonies, as long as you manage your night vision well (watch the iPad).

So, yes, unless there is some weather, night flying is considerably more pleasant.
 
MAKG1 said:
You can also see terrain far better than you would expect, whether in the city or the boonies, as long as you manage your night vision well (watch the iPad).
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With a full moon terrain is often visible. On a moonless night over the mountains, foregitaboutit.
 
Checklist for engine out landing at night:

(1) Trim airplane for best glide
(2) At approximately 100 feet AGL, turn landing light on
(3) If you like what you see, land
(4) If not, turn landing light off
 
I like night flying but don't plan on doing much til I'm completely confident in whatever plane I end up buying. A couple of lessons ago we took off at dusk from KRWI and flew back home to KLHZ. It's only 24 miles but it got dark. I picked up the rotating beacon at around 5-6 miles out, entered the downwind, keyed the button 5 times (KLHZ is un-controlled), and flew the pattern to a bad landing.

Yesterday I flew for 2.4 hrs starting at 4PM staying mostly in the pattern for touch and goes. It finally clicked and my last 13 landings were very good. The last 6 were in the dark and I'm happy to say they were as good as the previous 7. One of the times about 1/4 mile out on final the dang runway lights went out. I hesitated for 1/2 a second and clicked the push to talk 5 times and nailed that landing too.

My home airport (KLHZ) is rural and when up at night you can see several whole towns. It's pretty easy to get/keep your bearings.

Where we are there's roads and large fields everywhere. I have no fear of an engine out emergency during the day. I feel like I could sit it down somewhere and survive. At night I'm sure I would aim for a road with headlights but I'd likely hit one or more of the thousands of power lines around.

On the other hand, our sectional (Charlotte, NC) is littered with airfields, they're everywhere. Maybe my night flying will be at higher altitudes. Engine out, set up for best glide, gps to nearby airports, pick one, glide in.
 
I hope this doesn't come across as advice sounding all I-know-it-all-skygod, but maybe you can benefit from my experience of almost killing myself! ;)

Night flying away from lit up areas should be treated as IFR. Meaning, make sure you have some basic instrument skills and can turn, climb and descend and fly level with reference to instruments alone. I don't want to unduly scare you, but you can kill yourself in a heartbeat at night if you're not careful. Happens all the time.

The night I almost killed myself on a go around at Inykoern airport with zero visual references and surrounded by mountains. I wasn't instrument rated yet, but had started my training. And thank god I had, or I'm pretty sure I'd still be there as a smoking pile.

Another eye opener here in the west is a standard departure out over the pitch black Pacific from Santa Barbara. You're in total darkness immediately and only after your turn around towards coast do you get any visual references. Many people have flow into the sea on that one. Stalled, or dived in from a skidded turn, eager to get back around an pushed too much rudder.

Night flying is great and you should do it as much as you can, but just be careful and understand the challenges. :thumbsup:
 
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When I first started night flying I noticed my landings were better. Now I really like to fly at night but I normally will input route into gps. I also tend to fly a instrument approach these days at night. If I were to have engine trouble I can hit nearest for good landing spot. I also probably try to fly little higher at night, but I normally fly in the low 20s anyway. Really helps to have good instrument lighting.
 
My personal minimum is at least 50% full moon. The risk factor is higher.
 
Witnessed a rocket motor explosion.
 
I liked it did all my training requirements in one go. Interior instrument lights stopped working after 5 min but that was no problem just had a red light wedged between my finger and yoke for 3 hours. I think even if lights don't work again I'd still use the red flashlight. Cooler air, no traffic, my landings were better, I'd do it all the time if I had a twin or something with BRS.
 
My first experience was with a different CFI than my normal CFI, this guy was a little high strung so it was not the best.

All my experience there after have been really nice, nowadays I end up probably logging more night hours with work, it's got it's advantages.
 
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Although I enjoy flying at night, I can't think of the last time I went flying at night just for the sake of making a night flight. It is usually the result of being off on a trip and it works out that I need to return after dark. Before Christmas I made a flight down to have supper with my son and his family. It was night when I made the return flight back home. About ten minutes out from the airport there was a place out in the county that was brightly lit up. Normally I fly GPS direct but I just had to make a detour to see what this was because I had not seen it before on any of my previous flights down there. It turned out to be farm that puts on a huge Christmas light display for the public. There were cars lined up and down the highway waiting to get in this place. I circled a couple of times before resuming my course home to check it out. It was really pretty neat from the air. Had I flown home while it was still light I would have missed that. I mentioned it to my son and he knew right off where it was. He had already taken his daughter out there to see the lights and decorations.
 
You can punch into a cloud yiu dudn't see, so be comfortable flying by reference to the instruments. You don't need the rating, just enough competentcy to get through a puffy or two and remain upright.

A bright moon, cloudless night, it's like day time almost, without the traffic. If you leave the pattern, be aware of the maximum elevations on the sectional.

A dark, moonless night can be tricky, even within urban areas. Watch the VASI or PAPI or whatever approach lights the airport has - dark trees will grab you. . .
 
stratobee said:
I hope this doesn't come across as advice sounding all I-know-it-all-skygod, but maybe you can benefit from my experience of almost killing myself! ;)

Night flying away from lit up areas should be treated as IFR. Meaning, make sure you have some basic instrument skills and can turn, climb and descend and fly level with reference to instruments alone. I don't want to unduly scare you, but you can kill yourself in a heartbeat at night if you're not careful. Happens all the time.

The night I almost killed myself on a go around at Inykoern airport with zero visual references and surrounded by mountains. I wasn't instrument rated yet, but had started my training. And thank god I had, or I'm pretty sure I'd still be there as a smoking pile.

Another eye opener here in the west is a standard departure out over the pitch black Pacific from Santa Barbara. You're in total darkness immediately and only after your turn around towards coast do you get any visual references. Many people have flow into the sea on that one. Stalled, or dived in from a skidded turn, eager to get back around an pushed too much rudder.

Night flying is great and you should do it as much as you can, but just be careful and understand the challenges. :thumbsup:
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I agree some night-flight should be IFR. When I did my night flight for my private flying out of KVNC (Venice FL), the instructor as we were flying over the gulf close to shore, had me point the plane out to sea away from land, and it was pitch blackness and very disorienting. I guess everyone is aware some night flying should be IFR, but i guess there's no way to divide those lines cleary.
 
BrianNC said:
I agree some night-flight should be IFR. When I did my night flight for my private flying out of KVNC (Venice FL), the instructor as we were flying over the gulf close to shore, had me point the plane out to sea away from land, and it was pitch blackness and very disorienting. I guess everyone is aware some night flying should be IFR, but i guess there's no way to divide those lines cleary.
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Yes, sure is a real danger. JFK Jr isn't the only one who's ended up at the bottom of the sea when trying it. But the desert or big vast uninhabited areas present similar lack of visual clues. And those few that are there can sometimes confuse more than they help.
 
stratobee said:
Yes, sure is a real danger. JFK Jr isn't the only one who's ended up at the bottom of the sea when trying it. But the desert or big vast uninhabited areas present similar lack of visual clues. And those few that are there can sometimes confuse more than they help.
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When I was training students in Colorad I alway included a leg east of Denver to being home the point.
 
I like flying at night more than I do the day.
 
I like how peaceful it seems.
Dallas is really beautiful at night.

I try to limit night flying given the reduction in options if there is an issue.
I do stay night current though because there are times like yesterday I had a delay and a headwind that had me back an hour later than planned and the sun got down before I did.
 
I love flying at night- less traffic, cooler, smoother, calmer. In recognition of the difficulty of spotting potential emergency landing spots, I tend to fly higher.

Edit:

I agree on the "treat it as IFR" comments.
 
I did a few night flights recently, after not having flown at night since I was a student.

I was expecting my landings to be off, but they were fine. Spotting the airport beacon against the city lights was initially difficult, even with the magenta line, but quickly improved with repetition.
 
As a CFI I include night landings without the landing light on. I suggest that one should practice a few of these too. May not be pretty but after the first one they usually improve. :D

Point being your landing light can malfunction or burn out.
 
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A few weeks ago, I heard an instructor ask Tower to turn the runway lights off, which they did. I didn't even think this was allowed, but I guess if you're landing with a dead electrical system, you get no landing light AND perhaps no runway lights. I don't know if he also landed with no flaps.
 
MAKG1 said:
A few weeks ago, I heard an instructor ask Tower to turn the runway lights off, which they did. I didn't even think this was allowed, but I guess if you're landing with a dead electrical system, you get no landing light AND perhaps no runway lights. I don't know if he also landed with no flaps.
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If you lost your electrical system and you're flying into a pilot controlled lighting airport then you wouldn't have runway lights either.
 
I used to enjoy landing at night with no lights, other than nav lights and no runway lights. With a full moon it's pretty easy. At a local airport I'm familiar with. On a trip, at a strange airport, don't think it would be very fun.
 
MAKG1 said:
A few weeks ago, I heard an instructor ask Tower to turn the runway lights off, which they did. I didn't even think this was allowed, but I guess if you're landing with a dead electrical system, you get no landing light AND perhaps no runway lights. I don't know if he also landed with no flaps.
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If it doesn't affect other aircraft, then they can turn them off for a pilot request. Used to do it with NVGs all the time. When another aircraft shows up, unless they agree with no lights as well, runway lights have to go back to their appropriate setting.
 
Velocity173 said:
If it doesn't affect other aircraft, then they can turn them off for a pilot request. Used to do it with NVGs all the time. When another aircraft shows up, unless they agree with no lights as well, runway lights have to go back to their appropriate setting.
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Yes we did this at Eglin AFB w/ the rescue UH60s per their request using NVG.
 
I was still in high school when I started taking lessons and it was winter time so the first few flights were in the dark after school. I loved every night flight.
 
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