New Night Illusion

[BobS]

This one was new for me, anybody else ever experience it?

I was en route at 7,000 feet on an IFR plan, clear VMC night, over a remote area with few lights on the ground, no moon. I saw a plane in the distance. I could resolve two white lights pointed at me, which I assumed to be wing mounted landing lights. The two dots were very close to each other and dim, so I assumed the plane was five or more miles away. It appeared a little above me.

Suddenly, the plane appeared to be getting much closer, very fast, and I dropped my nose to pass under it with a jolt of adrenaline.

Then I realized that I had been looking at a single center mounted landing light and a bright star or planet that appeared adjacent to the plane, and down near the horizon. When the plane's path diverged from the star it gave the illusion of blossoming in my view and growing very large, very suddenly.

Anybody else ever spew adrenaline over something like that?

 

[Richard]

A night flight, ATC very quiet, suddenly calls out traffic 12 o'clock opposite direction, alt unknown. No contact, then I see what turns out to be a 4 plane formation flight above me. ATC notified me of the flight only when they broke formation. At the time I thought it was one plane but as the lights diverged it was as you said. The original plane I never saw. In the SJ Valley, a lot of guys fly around at low level without their tansponder on.

Another time I was watching a EMB-120 I had spotted. I was judging if I had enough time in front of him to continue my approach to the non-towered field. Just then, then a nearer plane turned on his app lights. From my perspective, the two planes were near enough that I thought it was the one I had in sight that just turned on his ldg lights. As I continued the approach I saw the two diverge and it really looked like it was one big plane very close. Quickly, they appeared too widely separated to be one plane and I realized what I was seeing. For a time it was a bad feeling. What compounded that was a couple nights before I had a run in (figuratively) with a 121 carrier who gave wildly inaccurate position reports.

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

One time in the middle of the damp winter, shortly after the IR, we had launched into a thick overcast from a blackened airport way out in the boondocks. As we started to break out into the ragged tops at about 2000 AGL we saw some huge white limbs and undulating tail with two glowing white lights pointing straight at us ! We thought our light beams were reflecting in the angry eyes of an albino dragon and banked quickly to avoid the possible mouth flames of the powerful dragon hungrily eyeing our little airplane !

Well, turns out it wasn't a real albino dragon, just two bright stars shining through a wispy cloud at the edge of the overcast tops in an accurate shape where the dragon's horned-head would be but, it had us needlessly concerned for awhile since we novices had never experienced that classic night illusion before.

 

[Michael]

During my primary training, my CFI made evasive manuvers to avoid a car on the road below some 1500 feet. we had a good chuckle afterwards.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Coming out of Farmington NM at 1am one rainy night, the entire prop disk started to glow with St Elmo's. It looked to me just like a vehicle behind us with headlights/landing lights shining on the back side of our prop. It took all I had to not look behind us!

 

[Richard]

One time in the middle of the damp winter, shortly after the IR, we had launched into a thick overcast from a blackened airport way out in the boondocks. As we started to break out into the ragged tops at about 2000 AGL we saw some huge white limbs and undulating tail with two glowing white lights pointing straight at us ! We thought our light beams were reflecting in the angry eyes of an albino dragon and banked quickly to avoid the possible mouth flames of the powerful dragon hungrily eyeing our little airplane !

Well, turns out it wasn't a real albino dragon, just two bright stars shining through a wispy cloud at the edge of the overcast tops in an accurate shape where the dragon's horned-head would be but, it had us needlessly concerned for awhile since we novices had never experienced that classic night illusion before.

Coming back from a looooong x/c to WA I was in the middle of my last leg. Bored and tired, ATC very quiet I'm just sittin' waitin' for something to happen. ATC comes alive and calls traffic at my 9 o'clock, level. The curious justposition of an overcast, the jagged ridgeline of the Sierra, and a quarter moon still low in the sky looked like someone's huge ldg light aimed right at me. I banked hard right and down. I thought I was a goner. The moon was at my 9 o'clock and I had called that traffic sometime before ATC called and saw it was no factor so when I saw the moon rising I thought it was additional traffic. he he

 

[SkyHog]

During my primary training, my CFI made evasive manuvers to avoid a car on the road below some 1500 feet. we had a good chuckle afterwards.

I've done that myself. There is a road that passes right by Double Eagle, and parallel to the runway. As I was turning base, I saw headlights coming towards me, and thought for sure an aircraft had just taken off and was climbing into me.

Scared the crap outta me!