Night solo XC?

When I first got my ticket in 1999/2000, I racked up 200 hours in that
first year. I would say over 50 of them were night PIC.. a few were
non-solo.. but much of my "time building" happened at night because I
worked night shift, so if I had a night off, I went down to the airport
and did a short XC from SPX (now closed) to either CXO (Conroe) or BPT
(Beaumont). Always did flight following, always able to see the city
lights or highways as I went. Great confidence builder for stretching my
legs. I also got to play with "close" dew point spreads (less than 5 deg
F) and once or twice ended up turning a night flight into a daytime
return when it started socking in with ground fog (or the ASOS spread
started closing)..

Make a trip or two with an instructor to get the feel of some local
night destinations. Try to be considerate - pick a place thats not a
residential airpark.. dont make repetitive patterns.. but get comfy with
night ops. One other thing.. my wife (now ex) thought I was a flashlight
freak.. but.. I never carried less than 4 separate light sources with me
at night.. i have gone from maglites to chemlites to now LED's.. but I
always made sure I had plenty of backup to see the panel if electricals
didnt work right.

I also had a CFI have me run through a few "no landing light"
approaches/landings and a few "no runway light" approaches/landings.
Neither is something you would WANT to do regularly, but having done a
few takes some of the pressure off of being FORCED to do one unexpectedly.

Dave

G. Burkhart wrote:
A question to the group. Do you normally fly many night solo cross
country flights? I have been going out to the local airport every couple
months to do some night flying, but it's usually solo just around the patch
to get night current so I can carry a passenger at night. The few times that
I have done cross countries at night, I either have a passenger (usually
pilot rated too) or an instructor (during training a few years ago).

I was going to do a short night XC a couple weeks ago and took off, got
about 10 miles out and didn't 'feel' right so I returned to the pattern. It
was probably just me, but it seemed like some strange noises from the plane
that I don't notice during day flight. If I have a passenger, I'm not as
concerned about flying XC at night. All of my night flights have been when
there is close to a full moon so visibility isn't a factor.

-Greg B.

Try electroluminescent "rope" or Krill lights. Won't diminish your night
vision.

Dave S wrote:
One other thing.. my wife (now ex) thought I was a flashlight
freak.. but.. I never carried less than 4 separate light sources with me
at night.. i have gone from maglites to chemlites to now LED's.. but I
always made sure I had plenty of backup to see the panel if electricals
didnt work right.

Already have an EL wand that hangs from my neck on a lanyard. the rest
are LED Pelicans that can mount to my headsets. My light collection is
always a work in progress and constantly evolving.

Dave

john smith wrote:
Try electroluminescent "rope" or Krill lights. Won't diminish your night
vision.

Dave S wrote:

One other thing.. my wife (now ex) thought I was a flashlight freak..
but.. I never carried less than 4 separate light sources with me at
night.. i have gone from maglites to chemlites to now LED's.. but I
always made sure I had plenty of backup to see the panel if
electricals didnt work right.

Already have an EL wand that hangs from my neck on a lanyard. the rest
are LED Pelicans that can mount to my headsets. My light collection is
always a work in progress and constantly evolving.

Dave

john smith wrote:
Try electroluminescent "rope" or Krill lights. Won't diminish your night
vision.

Dave S wrote:

One other thing.. my wife (now ex) thought I was a flashlight freak..
but.. I never carried less than 4 separate light sources with me at
night.. i have gone from maglites to chemlites to now LED's.. but I
always made sure I had plenty of backup to see the panel if
electricals didnt work right.

Try electroluminescent "rope" or Krill lights. Won't diminish your night
vision.

Dave S wrote:
One other thing.. my wife (now ex) thought I was a flashlight
freak.. but.. I never carried less than 4 separate light sources with me
at night.. i have gone from maglites to chemlites to now LED's.. but I
always made sure I had plenty of backup to see the panel if electricals
didnt work right.

When I first got my ticket in 1999/2000, I racked up 200 hours in that
first year. I would say over 50 of them were night PIC.. a few were
non-solo.. but much of my "time building" happened at night because I
worked night shift, so if I had a night off, I went down to the airport
and did a short XC from SPX (now closed) to either CXO (Conroe) or BPT
(Beaumont). Always did flight following, always able to see the city
lights or highways as I went. Great confidence builder for stretching my
legs. I also got to play with "close" dew point spreads (less than 5 deg
F) and once or twice ended up turning a night flight into a daytime
return when it started socking in with ground fog (or the ASOS spread
started closing)..

Make a trip or two with an instructor to get the feel of some local
night destinations. Try to be considerate - pick a place thats not a
residential airpark.. dont make repetitive patterns.. but get comfy with
night ops. One other thing.. my wife (now ex) thought I was a flashlight
freak.. but.. I never carried less than 4 separate light sources with me
at night.. i have gone from maglites to chemlites to now LED's.. but I
always made sure I had plenty of backup to see the panel if electricals
didnt work right.

I also had a CFI have me run through a few "no landing light"
approaches/landings and a few "no runway light" approaches/landings.
Neither is something you would WANT to do regularly, but having done a
few takes some of the pressure off of being FORCED to do one unexpectedly.

Dave

G. Burkhart wrote:
A question to the group. Do you normally fly many night solo cross
country flights? I have been going out to the local airport every couple
months to do some night flying, but it's usually solo just around the patch
to get night current so I can carry a passenger at night. The few times that
I have done cross countries at night, I either have a passenger (usually
pilot rated too) or an instructor (during training a few years ago).

I was going to do a short night XC a couple weeks ago and took off, got
about 10 miles out and didn't 'feel' right so I returned to the pattern. It
was probably just me, but it seemed like some strange noises from the plane
that I don't notice during day flight. If I have a passenger, I'm not as
concerned about flying XC at night. All of my night flights have been when
there is close to a full moon so visibility isn't a factor.

-Greg B.

My examiner (who has close to 40,000 hours) gave me many pieces of advice
during my private checkride. The one he said would be hardest to follow was
to not fly at night until I was instrument rated or had an instrument rated
passenger on board. Many pilots (as you'll probably see from this newsgroup)
think that's being overly conservative and too restrictive but I was able to
follow that advice and still have over 60 of my 250 as night flight.

Reasons:
* Many times you will not see oncoming clouds at night until you're in it
* Haze--of the JFK Jr fame--is next to impossible to see at night
* Over bodies of water large enough to go over the horizon, it's as good as
IMC with no moon at night
* Also on a moonless night, sparsely populated areas are basically
feature-less except for some isolated lights. When these lights are on large
hills or mountains, they look awfully similar to stars.

I've experienced all of these at night so in retrospect (I've since acquired
my instrument rating) I can be thankful that I've chosen to follow it.

Marco Leon

"G. Burkhart" wrote in message
news:0joad.218088$MQ5.166822@attbi_s52...
A question to the group. Do you normally fly many night solo cross
country flights? I have been going out to the local airport every couple
months to do some night flying, but it's usually solo just around the
patch
to get night current so I can carry a passenger at night. The few times
that
I have done cross countries at night, I either have a passenger (usually
pilot rated too) or an instructor (during training a few years ago).

I was going to do a short night XC a couple weeks ago and took off,
got
about 10 miles out and didn't 'feel' right so I returned to the pattern.
It
was probably just me, but it seemed like some strange noises from the
plane
that I don't notice during day flight. If I have a passenger, I'm not as
concerned about flying XC at night. All of my night flights have been when
there is close to a full moon so visibility isn't a factor.

-Greg B.

My examiner (who has close to 40,000 hours) gave me many pieces of advice
during my private checkride. The one he said would be hardest to follow was
to not fly at night until I was instrument rated or had an instrument rated
passenger on board. Many pilots (as you'll probably see from this newsgroup)
think that's being overly conservative and too restrictive but I was able to
follow that advice and still have over 60 of my 250 as night flight.

Reasons:
* Many times you will not see oncoming clouds at night until you're in it
* Haze--of the JFK Jr fame--is next to impossible to see at night
* Over bodies of water large enough to go over the horizon, it's as good as
IMC with no moon at night
* Also on a moonless night, sparsely populated areas are basically
feature-less except for some isolated lights. When these lights are on large
hills or mountains, they look awfully similar to stars.

I've experienced all of these at night so in retrospect (I've since acquired
my instrument rating) I can be thankful that I've chosen to follow it.

Marco Leon

"G. Burkhart" wrote in message
news:0joad.218088$MQ5.166822@attbi_s52...
A question to the group. Do you normally fly many night solo cross
country flights? I have been going out to the local airport every couple
months to do some night flying, but it's usually solo just around the
patch
to get night current so I can carry a passenger at night. The few times
that
I have done cross countries at night, I either have a passenger (usually
pilot rated too) or an instructor (during training a few years ago).

I was going to do a short night XC a couple weeks ago and took off,
got
about 10 miles out and didn't 'feel' right so I returned to the pattern.
It
was probably just me, but it seemed like some strange noises from the
plane
that I don't notice during day flight. If I have a passenger, I'm not as
concerned about flying XC at night. All of my night flights have been when
there is close to a full moon so visibility isn't a factor.

-Greg B.

On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 04:51:08 GMT, "G. Burkhart"
wrote:

it seemed like some strange noises from the plane
that I don't notice during day flight.


The same thing happens over water.

z

On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 04:51:08 GMT, "G. Burkhart"
wrote:

it seemed like some strange noises from the plane
that I don't notice during day flight.


The same thing happens over water.

z