Night Flying

I fly SEL at night (in IMC as well) because sometimes my schedule
demands it. It's also often really beautiful at night: moonlit
landscapes or cloud tops are wonderful, and it's rarely so dark there's
no view. FWIW, however, it's the unusual case for me to fly at night
under VFR. I almost always file an IFR flight plan (but do that in the
daytime, too: it's much easier getting into busy airports that way).

Then there's this: those with an instrument rating will understand.
Sometimes the ceiling is flat and just above minimums with good
visibility below. There's nothing quite as exciting to be in the clouds
at night, break out at 200 feet and have the runway and lead in lights
right there, right where they should be. A half mile at an average
speed of say 80 means you go from solid instruments to in the flare in
20 seconds. The best word I can think of for that experience is "neat!"

That sounds pretty cool.....I will be going for instrument rating later this
year, or early next year. I am looking forward to it.
As for breaking out and seeing the runway lights.....does that ever give you
a sight problem? Going from instruments to those bright lights all of a
sudden?

Fred

"Tony" wrote in message
ups.com...
I fly SEL at night (in IMC as well) because sometimes my schedule
demands it. It's also often really beautiful at night: moonlit
landscapes or cloud tops are wonderful, and it's rarely so dark there's
no view. FWIW, however, it's the unusual case for me to fly at night
under VFR. I almost always file an IFR flight plan (but do that in the
daytime, too: it's much easier getting into busy airports that way).

Then there's this: those with an instrument rating will understand.
Sometimes the ceiling is flat and just above minimums with good
visibility below. There's nothing quite as exciting to be in the clouds
at night, break out at 200 feet and have the runway and lead in lights
right there, right where they should be. A half mile at an average
speed of say 80 means you go from solid instruments to in the flare in
20 seconds. The best word I can think of for that experience is "neat!"

Fred, runway and run-in lights near the threshold just aren't bright
enough to interfere with night vision. You'd also think changing focal
distance from 30 inches to the instruments to fractional miles might be
a problem, but I hadn't noticed it being an issue. What you will find
interesting is flying an ILS to minimums in a cross wind. As you get
close to your decision height and start including the windscreen in
your instrument scan -- I'm sure you'll be looking straight ahead --
you'll be surprised to see the runway lights way over to the side. It's
not a big deal, but after a while you'll find yourself noticing you're
10 or 15 degrees off the runway heading as you get lower, and you'll
start looking off to the correct side to see the threshold lights.

Fred Choate wrote:

That sounds pretty cool.....I will be going for instrument rating later this
year, or early next year. I am looking forward to it.
As for breaking out and seeing the runway lights.....does that ever give you
a sight problem? Going from instruments to those bright lights all of a
sudden?

It can if you are in a large crab angle or don't have the wings level at
break-out, however, if you try to think about this beforehand and
picture where the runway will be when you break out, it seldom is a problem.


Matt