Night Flight: How Should I Go About Getting Better

Remember that you fly the plane at night the same way you do during the day. Make sure you're nailing your airspeeds and power settings in your patterns and it won't be a big deal. If you're still feeling your way around the pattern with varying airspeeds, you're probably relying too much on the sight picture and too little on knowledge of the airplane's performance, and that's how you get into trouble.

Make friends with another pilot and make it a thing to go fly to dinner once a week or something. Though I've only got 20 hours or so of PIC time at night, I've got a boatload of unlogged time with experienced pilots, and the education I got from watching them was immeasurable.
 
Hi.
Get your IR.
Be very aware that in desolate areas, without city lights and no moon light, you can go from having a horizon to pitch black in very few seconds, in particular in mountainous, or over the ocean areas, and turning away from airport /city lights. Be ready to go on instruments immediately.
Remain below 6000 ft. MSL is possible, your eyes behave differently at night you loose a lot of your peripheral vision, scan a closer pattern, and be aware many other things are perceived differently at night, like distance, altitude....
It can take up to 72 hours to actually get your eyes to get a good night vision, and knowing what to expect / look for, will help. Pilots that fly at night, in critical missions, tend to keep their dominant eye closed in bright sunlight to maintain the night vision.
If you do not have your IR, practice hood time as much as you can and make sure that you can recover from unusual attitudes with the hood on.
Read and educate yourself about all the possible different night perceptions an illusions. Ask your CFI to give you some specifics on what to read, if needed.

Sinistar said:
Since I got my PPL I have been diligent about remaining night current. But I have been doing this...just to stay current (legal)...not to be proficient and get better at it. Is being "minimally" night current actually a bad/dangerous idea?
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Tommar98 said:
Hmm...I don't get the reason to bring a passenger for night flights when your admittedly trying to get better at it. The night flight accident statistics are horrid. The fact that you posted the question indicates you have some serious concern about your abilities...which is a good thing. Just because you have your ppl and can blast off into the night doesn't make it a good thing.

I would suggest you get an instructor and do a serious xcountry night flight or 2. Make sure you're confident about your abilities...not just ok. Just because someone has done something previously without a bad outcome doesn't necessarily mean it was the right thing to do. I certainly can't see subjecting a passenger to this risk.
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Thanks for calling me out on the passenger thing. My initial thought was "I got someone with to keep me awake....". But really, I need someone with on a few cross countries that is way more experienced at this than I am. So I am going to restrict myself from taking passengers on night flights until I get some more time. The nice thing is my wife is a great pilot and perfect for night flight. But with a young kid its too hard to schedule and with the stats I think we both prefer to not be in the plane at the same time...unless its a quick local flight.

Yes, I had read early on during PPL training just how much more dangerous night flying is. So that stuck with me and hence all the questions. I am starting to think that people who don't fly instrument probably log less than 5% of their total time at night, probably even less at night w/o a CFI. Right now I am probably near 150hrs and about 10hrs of night. But 6hrs of that was with instructors. The longest solo night flight was about 35min moving the plane from a Delta to our smaller home airport. I wasn't as concerned on that flight as I have done it many times and although its a flight I normally don't use FF, I did get FF anyway.

One thing about FF, I wish at night when they seem less busy they would stay with me a bit longer. At exactly 10nm I was terminated. I think I would have had radar coverage for another 5nm and definitely radio contact. Even with GPS, I always go out of my way to find the beacon as soon as possible. With this haze lately that was at about 12 miles so just before they dropped me.

As you have probably guessed...I like to have a plan when it comes to learning. I know it can't all be structured but for something like this having some structure in a progressive order will help me have a goal for each flight rather than just playing around (which I know would be dangerous).
 
One thing I like about night flying is that you can see other traffic a lot easier. Its also a lot smoother and cooler. I do find that here in Southern Arizona that those big black holes on the ground (mountains) and large gear-tearing-off critters such as deer and javelina on remote runways can be a concern.
 
Sinistar said:
One thing about FF, I wish at night when they seem less busy they would stay with me a bit longer. At exactly 10nm I was terminated. I think I would have had radar coverage for another 5nm and definitely radio contact.
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What altitude and what airport?

Sinistar said:
Even with GPS, I always go out of my way to find the beacon as soon as possible. With this haze lately that was at about 12 miles so just before they dropped me.
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At my home 'drome, I can only see the beacon when I'm on the ground looking right at it. Too much light pollution to pick out the beacon or runway lights until you're basically lined up. I know it's on the SE edge of the big black hole next to the city.
 
The whole "black hole" thing is a bit unusual in the East. Lots of ground lights. Of course, on a clear night the stars can give you a nice horizon over unpopulated terrain. Critters are a problem, especially in the boonies. The airport I fly out of is surrounded by a big fence. A pity it keeps out the curious, but good thing to keep out the beasties.

Worst thing about night flying is you can't see the wx and can easily blunder right into it. Nice thing is wx tends to smooth out at night.
 
Eric Gleason said:
What altitude and what airport?



At my home 'drome, I can only see the beacon when I'm on the ground looking right at it. Too much light pollution to pick out the beacon or runway lights until you're basically lined up. I know it's on the SE edge of the big black hole next to the city.
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I was at 4500msl (3500agl) @ 10 miles east of KGYL. I had departed from KFCM right before they closed so picked up FF from ground. I shouldn't complain, I always get FF - just thought they might stay with me a bit longer at night.
 
And you requested flight following? Sounds like a controller forgot to pass word on to the next controller. You can always request at any time, even if they cut you loose. They may say "unable," but usually they'll accommodate you.

The departure controller is sitting in a dim room with a radar screen, so he may not think to do anything differently at night than during the day, especially if he's not a pilot.
 
all very nice inputs and more surprisingly … the thread is still on topic!!

I got pumped up due to this thread and planned a night XC. plan is to leave KFAR right after sunset and land at KDTL right before end of civil twilight, pick up my CFI, go to KPKD and shoot a ILS there and then to KBRD and shoot a RNAV there, drop the CFI at KDTL and fly back alone to KFAR.. this sunday..if wx cooperates
 
Did a flight last night. 4 miles vs haze at both departure and arrival airports. Chose to fly IFR because of lack of a horizon. I wouldn't want fly VFR at night unless it was extreme clear. Just start flying at night and get comfortable, when in doubt, bring an experienced friend or stay home
 
TheGolfPilot said:
Did a flight last night. 4 miles vs haze at both departure and arrival airports. Chose to fly IFR because of lack of a horizon. I wouldn't want fly VFR at night unless it was extreme clear. Just start flying at night and get comfortable, when in doubt, bring an experienced friend or stay home
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So I have a dumb question now...

You chose to fly IFR due to reduced visibility and haze effecting the horizon so not questioning your actual decision and sounds safer too.

But what specifically was different about IFR vs VFR for that specific flight? You have instrument training so whether it was a VFR or IFR flight you have training, experience and awareness of the risks. I presume it was a pretty normal takeoff. And it seems like 4m vis and haze wouldn't really require a instrument approach to land (maybe that's where I am wrong). So what specifically made the "IFR" more safe than a VFR+FF along with your rating, skills, etc. Or was this about VFR minimums to be legal and you didn't want to request a SVFR clearance?
 
Sinistar said:
So I have a dumb question now...

You chose to fly IFR due to reduced visibility and haze effecting the horizon so not questioning your actual decision and sounds safer too.

But what specifically was different about IFR vs VFR for that specific flight? You have instrument training so whether it was a VFR or IFR flight you have training, experience and awareness of the risks. I presume it was a pretty normal takeoff. And it seems like 4m vis and haze wouldn't really require a instrument approach to land (maybe that's where I am wrong). So what specifically made the "IFR" more safe than a VFR+FF along with your rating, skills, etc. Or was this about VFR minimums to be legal and you didn't want to request a SVFR clearance?
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Not dumb.

Putting aside the issues of flight in IMC vs VMC conditions, I would fly any and all night cross countries IFR simply because it is easier.

Flying an IFR clearance insures adequate separation from terrain (and nav radio reception). The workload involved in proper airspace navigation, frequency selection, and routing in general is mostly done for you. You get to lead and manage the flight but have a team of people required to assist and a robust system designed to get you from A to B without impacting anything. And there’s nothing like ending a long trip in hard VMC, with vectors onto a final approach path to strange airport.

Once flying in the system is mastered, one of the secrets is that it’s easier to plan and execute a safe flight fully in the system rather than around it. I now find planning and executing a cross country VFR, particularly to or from unfamiliar locations, more work than IFR. Helmet on, shields up ‍‍

Proficiency is mainly about recent practice and experience. Making it more directed with a CFI or plan for improvement makes it even better. But just doing will make it and keep it familiar to you and that alone will make you more proficient than if you stay on the ground.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
I agree with @Bill Watson on this. Flying IFR doesn't magically give you the ability to fly by instruments, but the discipline does help you take the steps needed to ensure safety, and the extra eyes looking out for you, helping separate you from traffic, are invaluable. Personally, here in New England I normally don't fly cross country at night except IFR.
 
I like night IFR because I don't have to guess how far I am from clouds that I can't see.
 
MauleSkinner said:
Is that less accurate than guessing how far you are from clouds you CAN see? ;)
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I think it’s more accurate. When you can see the cloud, you guess and get it wrong. When you can’t see them, you don’t guess and therefore never guess wrong.
 
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