Night Departure from Banning, CA

[dans2992]

Ok, so last night after dark I was departing from Banning, CA - KBNG (first time there).

There are no instrument approaches to Banning, so there is no published ODP.

Conditions on departure were night VFR. Based on the sectional, my homegrown ODP was to depart straight out on 26, remain over the lights of the town and just S of the highway, climb at Vy, then make a right 180 and follow the highway out to the east.

So, after rotation, I am finding that in order to get Vy, the nose of the aircraft obscures my view of the lights below. So, I start craning my neck and looking out the side windows occasionally to verify my position over the town based on ground lighting.

In retrospect, I'm thinking that perhaps I should have just transitioned to instruments, but then again my departure route was planned based on visual references, so maybe that wouldn't have been ideal.

It was not a huge deal or anything, just curious what others would do in this situation.

 

[coloradobluesky]

It certainly is possible to lose the horizon and see "all black" on a climb, or for that matter and approach, at night. Night conditions vary a lot with moon, lights, ground reflections, snow etc contributing different amounts of light on the situation. Best defense is an IFR rating, or at least some under the hood and imc training. Good work though!

 

[olasek]

In retrospect, I'm thinking that perhaps I should have just transitioned to instruments, but then again my departure route was planned based on visual references, so maybe that wouldn't have been ideal.

No, it was important to watch those lights and have the confidence you were away from any terrain, I had a similar situation when climbing at night from South Lake Tahoe, very mountainous terrain, no Moon, VFR, I knew I had to do spiral climb before I could fly over the peaks in pitch dark conditions, so I was climbing over the lake and watching lights of numerous casinos for visual reference. And then at some point I had enough altitude to fly over the mountains. Whether you climb at Vy or more for better forward visibility is not that critical, actually it is much tougher to have a midair collision at night VFR because of aircraft lights. I was using the side window to watch the lights below me, not the forward window (and constant circling gave me great view of the whole terrain), forward visibility with the nose up wasn't good enough for this maneuver. If you transitioned prematurely to instruments - it is like saying you designed your own instrument departure.

 

[Dr. O]

Every few years we lose one here in Michigan. Always the same scenario.
A night takeoff, no moon, overcast, no horizon, taking off from a shoreline runway and climbing out over the lake.
There is no horizon and they lose control within seconds of rotation.
I believe they had the expectation that they will see the lights on the opposite shoreline. After all, it's just a lake, right.
Except it is water all the way out till the curve of the Earth rolls off into deep space. And the water is the mirror of the sky. A John Kennedy re-do.

 

[danhagan]

The homeland VOR and tracking a radial would work until you had sufficient altitude to cross.

 

[Doggtyred]

Ok, so last night after dark I was departing from Banning, CA - KBNG (first time there).

There are no instrument approaches to Banning, so there is no published ODP.

Conditions on departure were night VFR. Based on the sectional, my homegrown ODP was to depart straight out on 26, remain over the lights of the town and just S of the highway, climb at Vy, then make a right 180 and follow the highway out to the east.

So, after rotation, I am finding that in order to get Vy, the nose of the aircraft obscures my view of the lights below. So, I start craning my neck and looking out the side windows occasionally to verify my position over the town based on ground lighting.

In retrospect, I'm thinking that perhaps I should have just transitioned to instruments, but then again my departure route was planned based on visual references, so maybe that wouldn't have been ideal.

It was not a huge deal or anything, just curious what others would do in this situation.

Transitioned to instruments until the horizon was reacquired. Just like when departing out of GLS (Galveston) over water at night.