I'm not experienced but I've been up at night as PIC a few times, first
on local sight-seeing, then a cross-country, always ending at a
familiar airport.

It strikes me that there are some risks that you need to accept and/or
mitigate if you want to fly at night, such as the difficulty of finding
a decent emergency landing area if you have engine failure out of range
of an airport. However, I have been flying at night under the following
conditions:

1. Very clear weather
2. Generous excess fuel
3. 100% navigational confidence, coming from a combination of
familiarity with the area and having both GPS and VORs to use.
4. Remembering the need to rely heavily on instruments, especially for
attitude control.

I think some VFR pilots are more comfortable using instruments and
ignoring sensations than others. I've flown IMC with instructors (with
me doing all the flying) and I've found it fairly easy to fly on
instruments. Not to say that I think I think I'm immune to
disorientation, but maybe as part of the video game generation,
instrument flying comes a bit more naturally.

One thing I have felt is that those first few moments after take-off,
as you leave the airport boundary and take off into the inky-black sky,
suddenly losing all visual references, are lonely and potentially
disorientating moments - at a time when you are close to the ground and
cannot afford disorientation. It's easy to deal with - just look at the
attitude indicator, make sure the wings are level, pitch for Vy, check
the airspeed, etc. But it feels that way whether you are taking off to
go round the pattern at your local airport or heading off on a long
cross country, so mentally prepare yourself for that scary moment and
you'll be fine.

Tom


FLAV8R wrote:
"Blanche" wrote in message ...
wrote in message ...
Given the option, I much rather fly at night than during the day.
But that of course is in Florida, I don't know if I would feel that
way in lets say Colorado or someplace really mountainous with
very few lights to shine the way.

David, et al:

Don't forget that 50% of Colorado is *not* mountains. In fact, from
Golden east is what we affectionately call "West Kansas".
You can follow I-25 from the Wyoming border down to the New Mexico
border and with the exception of the segment between RTN and TAD,
pretty much fly at 9500 the entire way. Actually, lower most of
the time, but COS is in the way at 6200 ft. And going east, you
can do 7500 and keep going downhill the entire time.

It's going west that gets interesting. Rule of thumb out here
is that the only single engine, night, (and IFR if you wish)
in/over the mountains better be in an F-16 (yes, they do
frequently) or a Pilatus.


Good point, I am very familiar with Colorado being 50% flat.
What I meant was on one side you have mountains and on the
other side you have a sparse landscape without many lights.
Many people also think that New York state is one big city
of lights, when in actuality the majority (90%) of the state is
farm land and very rural with mountainous terrain that will
reach up and grab you if your not careful.

David