Actually, you don't even need snow or a full moon. Just a partial moon or
star light is good enough. We often fly with too much cockpit lighting to
notice the outside. Next time you fly at night, turn off all cockpit
lights. Give your eyes plenty of time to get adjusted. You will be amazed
how much ground you can see. Only drawback is that you won't be able to see
your panel too well. I used to do this when I flew in New Mexico.



"Peter R." wrote in
:

buttman wrote:

When its dark, you can't see anything. One of the things that
attracts people to flying is being able to see things from high
above.

You've obviously never flown over a snow-covered landscape with a full
moon above.

Regarding a full moon, one of my most memorable night-time flights
involved flying an Angel Flight mission from Philadelphia (Wings
Field) to Boston (Bedford).

We were over central Long Island when we spotted a lone thunderstorm
cell about 75 miles off, somewhere near Providence, Rhode Island.
Lightening, moving up and down the cell, lit it up beautifully. As if
this weren't enough, the full moon appeared and slowly rose above the
cell. Surreal.

My camera was safely on my desk at home.