Night VFR following highways

On Feb 1, 10:28 am, Mxsmanic wrote:
Is it a bad idea to fly VFR at night and navigate by following highways? At
night outside large cities, there doesn't seem to be much else that's visible.
It seems to me that if you can clearly see the highway, it can guide you and
you can get a good idea of where you are with respect to terrain, so it should
work. Are there hidden dangers in this? Do night VFR pilots ever/often
navigate by following highways? What other forms of visual navigation are
usable at night?

A danger is hitting towers, (TV, radio) that are usually
close to hwy's for maintenance.

Yes, I know they are supposed to be lit and yes
they should be noticeable if not shrouded in fog.
But every few years a bertie wins the Darwin by
finding one while dorking in an A/C, fortunately
that improves the gene pool.
Ken

"Ken S. Tucker" wrote in
:

On Feb 1, 10:28 am, Mxsmanic wrote:
Is it a bad idea to fly VFR at night and navigate by following
highways? At night outside large cities, there doesn't seem to be
much else that's visible. It seems to me that if you can clearly see
the highway, it can guide you and you can get a good idea of where
you are with respect to terrain, so it should work. Are there hidden
dangers in this? Do night VFR pilots ever/often navigate by
following highways? What other forms of visual navigation are usable
at night?

A danger is hitting towers, (TV, radio) that are usually
close to hwy's for maintenance.


Not to mention the antennae coming out of your tinfoil hat.

Yes, I know they are supposed to be lit and yes
they should be noticeable if not shrouded in fog.
But every few years a bertie wins the Darwin by
finding one while dorking in an A/C, fortunately
that improves the gene pool.


Ah, if only that were true.



Bertie

What other forms of visual navigation are usable at night?

Dead Reckoning (DR) from town to town..

IFR = I Follow Roads = I Follow Rail Roads (hard to do at night)

BT