I'm weird

O

onwards

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onwards
As a new private pilot (still less than a month "old"), one would expect me to love flying. And I do. But for some reason, I find that I love flying at night rather than during the day.

Just went to dinner with a friend and came back in the dark, and it's the same experience - I find myself enjoying the day flight well enough, but really looking forward to the night portion, and especially - especially! - the landing in the end. There's something so cool about finding the runway between all the other lights, and lining up for it, the vasi red on white, the runway lights and threshold lights and the taxi lights all merge into a delightful cacophony of color... I find that it relaxes me inside somehow.

Anyone else with this strange affliction?
 
onwards said:
Anyone else with this strange affliction?
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Well... I do love night flying. I like the lights, the smooth cool air, the lack of other traffic...

But I like flying during the day too. My favorite thing to do with people, though, is to go somewhere for dinner and fly there during the day and back at night so they get to experience both. :)
 
I think that MOST folks enjoy night flying most. The question is, do you feel SAFE flying at night? I don't care too much for the thought of doing an emergency landing at night.

I suppose that if all your flying were over a big metro area where there's nowhere to emergency land in the daytime either, then flying over this area at night would be about the same risk.

My $0.02,
Doc
 
I like night flying. Airports are easier to find, traffic is easier to spot, the air is smoother. However, I took my student on his first night flight/night cross country on Friday, and one of the first things he noted was that you can't really tell what is fields and what is trees at altitude if you need to put down. I said, if I have that issue, I just aim for a road and hope there's no power lines.
 
The night I did my long cross country as a student pilot I didn't get in until very late. I therefore didn't get into work until later than usual. When I walked in, my postdoc looked at me like he'd seen a ghost. He though he was seeing a ghost, indeed he was working on his CV for his next job. Another aircraft like mine with two aboard had gone down on my route. They aimed for a field and got trees and dead. He thought I was them.

I love flying at night and avoid it like the plague. I do it if I gotta or it fits the plans, but I don't go out of my way to fly at night ever.
 
MBDiagMan said:
I suppose that if all your flying were over a big metro area where there's nowhere to emergency land in the daytime either, then flying over this area at night would be about the same risk.

My $0.02,
Doc
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What makes you think there's nowhere to land in metropolitan areas? Lots of parking lots, golf courses, highways, parks, etc. that make fine targets. Will the aircraft be reusable? Maybe not but that's not the primary goal.

As for night flights, they're great. The thought of a night emergency isn't particularly appealing. Full moons are great. I'll do solo flights at night about anytime in good weather. If there are passengers involved then some considerations need to be made.
 
I love flying at night and actually had more night time than day time for quite awhile. But that was in West Texas and the biggest thing to hit was a t-post. If I did it much anywhere else I'd like to at least have a 4-point harness to keep me from eating the dash if I go into a tree.
 
Clark1961 said:
What makes you think there's nowhere to land in metropolitan areas? Lots of parking lots, golf courses, highways, parks, etc. that make fine targets. Will the aircraft be reusable? Maybe not but that's not the primary goal.

As for night flights, they're great. The thought of a night emergency isn't particularly appealing. Full moons are great. I'll do solo flights at night about anytime in good weather. If there are passengers involved then some considerations need to be made.
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Sorry, but I like the flying I do over lots of pasture and open fields. I'll take one over a Wal Mart parking lot any day. What about NYC, is it tough putting it down in Central Park?

Doc
 
onwards said:
As a new private pilot (still less than a month "old"), one would expect me to love flying. And I do. But for some reason, I find that I love flying at night rather than during the day.

Just went to dinner with a friend and came back in the dark, and it's the same experience - I find myself enjoying the day flight well enough, but really looking forward to the night portion, and especially - especially! - the landing in the end. There's something so cool about finding the runway between all the other lights, and lining up for it, the vasi red on white, the runway lights and threshold lights and the taxi lights all merge into a delightful cacophony of color... I find that it relaxes me inside somehow.

Anyone else with this strange affliction?
Click to expand...

If you like that...try breaking out of an overcast layer at 500 ft on the ILS. I'm not sure that I've experienced anything like flying an ILS down to minimums and having the runway just appear out of nowhere right in front of me.
 
jason said:
If you like that...try breaking out of an overcast layer at 500 ft on the ILS. I'm not sure that I've experienced anything like flying an ILS down to minimums and having the runway just appear out of nowhere right in front of me.
Click to expand...

You should try being lined up with it next time! That's even better. :D

It is amazing when you do that and you can go "whoa, this really does work."
 
EdFred said:
You should try being lined up with it next time! That's even better. :D

It is amazing when you do that and you can go "whoa, this really does work."
Click to expand...

LOL.

Yeah, that sounds like it would be mind-blowingly awesome... I do want to start instrument training, but I just got my license and I want to enjoy it first before I start drinking from a fire hose again!

Yesterday's flight was funny though. Looking up at the sky as they were darkening, at some point I turned to my friend and said "if we don't go up now, we're staying overnight". We literally ran ahead of the fog - clear, beautiful and 10m+ visibility in front of us, but if you looked back it was coming in so fast that by the time we crossed the hills that marked the boundary between clear and fog, it already filled that valley almost entirely. I've never experienced fog quite like that. Another new way of looking at the world, courtesy of being a private pilot!
 
onwards said:
As a new private pilot (still less than a month "old"), one would expect me to love flying. And I do. But for some reason, I find that I love flying at night rather than during the day.

Just went to dinner with a friend and came back in the dark, and it's the same experience - I find myself enjoying the day flight well enough, but really looking forward to the night portion, and especially - especially! - the landing in the end. There's something so cool about finding the runway between all the other lights, and lining up for it, the vasi red on white, the runway lights and threshold lights and the taxi lights all merge into a delightful cacophony of color... I find that it relaxes me inside somehow.

Anyone else with this strange affliction?
Click to expand...

Yep, I too love flying at night, that's why I bought a twin as my first plane.
 
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I wish I could find that study...it was a statistical comparison of the risk in day vs night flight. The numbers were close enough to be just a trifle. I fail to see why there is such a profound fear of night-ops.

You can reassign risk, transfer risk, mitigate risk or accept risk. I choose a mixture of all 4 for life cannot be lived constantly avoiding risk.
 
Jaybird180 said:
I wish I could find that study...it was a statistical comparison of the risk in day vs night flight. The numbers were close enough to be just a trifle. I fail to see why there is such a profound fear of night-ops.

You can reassign risk, transfer risk, mitigate risk or accept risk. I choose a mixture of all 4 for life cannot be lived constantly avoiding risk.
Click to expand...

When it's statistics it's a trifle, when it's you looking down in the black when it's real quiet in the plane wondering what the heck you're gonna hit on the way down, it's no longer a trifle. I choose to mitigate.
 
Night flying is my favorite. Always has been.

Less traffic, typically less turbulence, and it's just serene and peaceful. On a night with no moon and the stars light up the sky, it feels as close to flying through space as I'll ever get.

I still like flying during the day, but give me a night flight any day. Err... night. :)
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Night flying is my favorite. Always has been.

Less traffic, typically less turbulence, and it's just serene and peaceful. On a night with no moon and the stars light up the sky, it feels as close to flying through space as I'll ever get.

I still like flying during the day, but give me a night flight any day. Err... night. :)
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Don't forget cooler and lower DA!

In the Southwest, nightime is sometimes the only time to fly!

The one thing that does bother me/puts me a little on edge about night flying is that because I don't have a reason to do it much I tend not be be very current at night when I do have reason to fly in the dark.
 
I love flying at night, too, though it's far less often (and far less convenient) living in the DC area.

EdFred said:
You should try being lined up with it next time! That's even better. :D

It is amazing when you do that and you can go "whoa, this really does work."
Click to expand...

Exactly. Flying to minimums on an ILS where the approach lights appear in the fog is tres cool.
 
Back when I could legally fly at night I loved to do it. I know just what you mean about the beauty of the lights at landing. Can't do that anymore unfortunately...and since the storm on Monday it looks like it will be a long time before I can fly at all. :-(
 
I much prefer night ops. The concern about the fan quitting never really enters my mind any more than it does during the day. If the wind oscillator goes still, point to a dark spot or highway and hope for the best.
 
Jaybird180 said:
I wish I could find that study...it was a statistical comparison of the risk in day vs night flight. The numbers were close enough to be just a trifle. I fail to see why there is such a profound fear of night-ops.

You can reassign risk, transfer risk, mitigate risk or accept risk. I choose a mixture of all 4 for life cannot be lived constantly avoiding risk.
Click to expand...

Just remember that there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. With just a little data I can usually support just about any position that anyone may want to take. For example, on average every adult on the planet has approximately one mammary gland and approximately one testicle. The average is truly a meaningless and misleading statistic but it is entirely true.
 
pilot_dude said:
I much prefer night ops. The concern about the fan quitting never really enters my mind any more than it does during the day. If the wind oscillator goes still, point to a dark spot or highway and hope for the best.
Click to expand...

Right. Plus to be honest, around here (SF bay area) there's an airport within spitting distance pretty much anywhere you go... if the wind chopper goes bad, I can usually find a strip to drift into, public or private, as long as I'm aware of my position on the chart. My friend and I engaged in this conversation on the way back last night - from STS to CCR - sort of "what would happen if it blew up here? here? here?". He had the chart open, and no matter where we were, there was a strip within gliding distance, sometimes two.
 
I love night flying too. I only had one "scary" situation come up when an engine hiccupped at night. The only fear I have has already been stated. "What Am i going to hit on my way down"
 
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