Night Flying Tips

[BoDEAN]

Any general tips on night flying?
Haven't flown at night in over a year, and I need to go up tonight and
get current, and do a cross country.

[John Gaquin]

"BoDEAN" > wrote in message
> Any general tips on night flying?
> Haven't flown at night in over a year, and I need to go up tonight and
> get current, and do a cross country.


Any chance of bringing along someone who's night current? Your perceptions
may be a little rusty.

[Blanche]

I try very hard (not always successful) never to fly a route at
night that I haven't flown in daylight.

As for carrying someone along who is night current -- unless they're
CFI or Commercial, isn't that the point? To get current to carry
passengers? If CFI or Commercial, then they could be considered
the PIC and you're the passenger so it's legal.

Can't find my FAR right now, this is all from memory...

And there are times I'm convinced that senility set in with puberty

[Peter Duniho]

"BoDEAN" > wrote in message
...
> Any general tips on night flying?
> Haven't flown at night in over a year, and I need to go up tonight and
> get current, and do a cross country.

Read up on the various optical illusions that occur more easily at night.

Remember that night navigation is much more dependent on radio navigation;
you need a LOT of familiarity with the route of flight *and* have excellent
lighted landmarks to navigate without radios. A full moon (like we have
now) helps, if there's no cloud cover, but the radios are still important.

Likewise, there may be phases of your flight where the outside references
are not visible, and you will have to rely on the instruments to keep the
airplane right side up. Just after takeoff is a common point in time, with
the nose high, to not have much in the way of visible outside references.

Remember that your first (and maybe only) indication of obstructions to
flight, terrain or clouds or otherwise, may be that lights on the ground
become obscured. The occasional twinkle in a remote area is probably just
trees near the light blocking the light, but if large swaths of lights
become obscured at once, there's probably a hill or cloud between you and
the lights. If you are flying toward the lights that disappeared, this is a
problem. :)

Fly the VASI.

Pete

[Peter Duniho]

"Blanche" > wrote in message
...
> As for carrying someone along who is night current -- unless they're
> CFI or Commercial, isn't that the point? To get current to carry
> passengers? If CFI or Commercial, then they could be considered
> the PIC and you're the passenger so it's legal.

If the other pilot is acting as pilot in command, there is no problem
bringing them along. They do not need to be a CFI or hold a Commercial
Pilot certificate in order to act as pilot in command. They simply need to
meet the same "acting PIC" requirements that any other pilot would for
carrying passengers (since the pilot manipulating the controls would be a
passenger).

Pete

[John Galban]

BoDEAN > wrote in message >...
> Any general tips on night flying?
> Haven't flown at night in over a year, and I need to go up tonight and
> get current, and do a cross country.

Do a few landings at your home base before taking off X-C. It's a
lot easier to knock off the rust if you're familiar with the airport
and surround terrain.

John Galban=====>N4BQ (PA28-180)

[JJS]

If this is a VFR flight, pay special attention to the weather...
including the temperature /dewpoint spread. As others have already
said, a cloudless, full moon night makes things less risky. Expect
things to go wrong. Think up some emergency scenarios and have a plan
of action so that you'll know what to do before you ever leave the
ground. Set some personal minimums for weather and fuel that are more
stringent than for a day vfr flight. Do not exceed them. Perform a
thorough pre-flight including all aircraft lighting. Pack at least
one flashlight with good batteries. Doing some instrument training
with an instructor can be a life saver. Make sure your cockpit is
organized.

Joe Schneider
8437R



"BoDEAN" > wrote in message
...
> Any general tips on night flying?
> Haven't flown at night in over a year, and I need to go up tonight
and
> get current, and do a cross country.
>
>

[Bob Fry]

BoDEAN > writes:

> Any general tips on night flying?
> Haven't flown at night in over a year, and I need to go up tonight and
> get current, and do a cross country.

You'll get this too late. But when I haven't flown at night for a
while, I'll start doing full-stop takeoffs and landings at dusk. It's
easier to adjust to night when it happens gradually.