Night Flying

"Fred Choate" wrote in message
...
Hey Folks....

I go outside after dark a lot, usually to enjoy the outside air. Last
night I realized that I don't generally see a lot of GA at night in my
area. I am curious as to the feeling of this group on flying at night. I
am talking about VFR.
-- -------------------------------reply---------------------------------------------------

Hello Fred and Everyone,

Greetings from hurricane central! It's pretty peaceful right now (1611Z) as
the wind has not increased considerably. A Cat 4 hurricane is a dangerous
thing but preparedness has been the key.

I'm a volunteer with the Civil Air Patrol and often get calls at night to
fly a mission that may take me on a cross-country over several hundred
miles. The preparation time for these flights can range from a call in the
middle of the night to a mission base with multiple sorties. Last night was
one of those middle of the night calls. Departing from Gulf Shores at 2:30
AM, I flew to Montgomery to pick-up equipment and personnel and provide
evacuation flow reports to the Emergency Operations Center to be used in
briefing the officials. It's a tad over an hour up there. Now, if you
don't know how much a tad is, you probably can't measure a smidge either.
Forget about a cat-angle. The sight of cars bumper to bumper for as far as
you can see in either direction on Interstate 10 was impressive, and this
was at 3 AM!

It is important to make a distinction between current and proficient. Get a
friend who is proficient in night flying and make a trip, hundred dollar
hamburger and all that. The controllers are usually not as busy and will
often chat....I rub it in to them that I'm up here and they're not. A call
to Flight Watch is always good for a friendly voice in the night.

See you on the net after the storm passes.


Stephen F. Pearce
Foley, Alabama

There are nights where you see as well as in the day, and even better, because
you acn see cities and airports from many many miles away, and there are nights
where the sky is black as ink, and even though you still see the beacons, VFR is
less comfortable. It is made even less comfortable when you know that fog and
clouds can move in under you, without your knowing it until an advanced stage.
Night VFR pilots are always on the lookout for those halos around ground lights
- a sure sign that visibility is diminishing.

In night VFR, my biggest worry would be unseen obstacles when manoeuvering near
an unfamiliar airfield - particularly power lines, because they're
completely invisible under these conditions. If you're VFR into an airfield you
know well, there must be few pleasures in this world greater than night VFR, on
a calm, clear night.

G Faris

"buttman" wrote in message
ups.com...
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.

Also, during my first night cross country back when I was getting my
private, I remember my instructor telling me "If we lose an engine,
we're pretty much screwed"

That was an overstated and paranoid statement, me thinks. Only in some
situations, are you screwed. :-)

Some say at night, you can't see anything. I disagree. I love how the
little towns glitter like jewels. I like seeing the highways loaded with
cars, looking like ribbons of light, all droning along cursing the guy
blocking the fast lane, or.... You are overhead, going wherever you want,
except AIDZ's without permission g) with nobody blocking your way.

Airports stand out for miles, with an amazing number (in some regions) in
sight. Other airplane's lights can be seen for an amazing distance, but
there are fewer out there (at GA altitudes) than in the daytime.

No hot cockpits, and the cool air makes the plane leap off the runway, and
climb off into the sky with unusual vigor.

Be careful, limit your vulnerabilities, and go for it.
--
Jim in NC

Morgans wrote:
Airports stand out for miles, with an amazing number (in some regions) in
sight. Other airplane's lights can be seen for an amazing distance, but
there are fewer out there (at GA altitudes) than in the daytime.

"Some" or "most" airports stand out for miles.
Those surrounded by development can be downright difficult, even when
you know exactly where to look.

Greg Farris wrote:
snip
Night VFR pilots are always on the lookout for those halos around ground lights
- a sure sign that visibility is diminishing.

In night VFR, my biggest worry would be unseen obstacles when manoeuvering near
an unfamiliar airfield - particularly power lines, because they're
completely invisible under these conditions. If you're VFR into an airfield you
know well, there must be few pleasures in this world greater than night VFR, on
a calm, clear night.

Hmm, there's a full moon next week (Thursday, July 21).
Maybe, if the fog doesn't roll in, I'll go up and take a look :-)

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.

On 14 Jul 2005 23:02:40 -0500, Andrew Sarangan
wrote:

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.

Around here in northern New England there's one other drawback, if you
lose your engine you cannot see what you will hit when you attempt to
land and most of the land below you is famously hilly. I had two
night cross country flights during training and both were during
pretty dark nights. Yes the lights were pretty but it was really
sobering to realise how few options were available should the fan
stop.

Even crossing the mountain ranges in broad daylight is a flight of
considerable risk, akin to crossing a large body of water.

Things would be better of course during a full moon night, but trying
to match the full moon or even mostly full moon with good flying
weather is, this summer anyway, pretty tough.

Since I'm just flying for personal enjoyment, I've chosen to stay on
the ground during the night.

Corky Scott

Dave S wrote:

I've got about 100 or so night VFR hours.. most of them are XC.. 450 TT.

28 night, 65 hours XC... 176 TT...

Agreed... For VFR flying, a minimum of a partial moon is on the list
of my personal minimums, which include many of the other pm's mentioned
in previous posts. I'm IFR, but that doesn't do a lot of good when you
can't see anything in a "less than partial panel" situation, with no
airports close by...

Seeing a major city's downtown lit up at night is quite a sight!

There's the added bonus of smoother air, like in those early morning
flights we all love...

28 night, 65 hours XC... 176 TT...

That's a pretty impressive percentage of night flying.

I've got around 970 TT, maybe 425 XC -- but only around 20 hours at night.

All those years of getting up at 4:30 AM just meant not staying up past
sunset, I guess!

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"