Night Flying. How many PPSEL pilots excersie night priveledges?

yup have one of those also and yes it cannot be beat...
but still for inflight use I like the smaller red or green that I have
on a lanyard

Newps wrote:
I bought two of these.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LED-P...QQcmdZViewItem

Morgans wrote:


"napd" wrote

I also carry a mini mag
light for the preflight.


I know you can't beat the mini-mag, for size and performance, but I have
a hot tip for you.

Get a replacement bulb for the big mag lights, or you can by one with
the new bulb in it. Mine is a 3 cell, but they also make it in 4 cell;
I don't remember about other sizes.

The magical bulb I speak of is a 3 watt LED, and I'm telling you, you
have to see it to believe it.

Color, the brilliance of white - like daylight. Brightness, like you
would not believe.

Check it out. A little under 20 bucks, for just the bulb. Worth every
penny, especially for something like a preflight, where it is "nice" to
be able to see into every nook and cranny, with clarity.

"napd" wrote in message

yup have one of those also and yes it cannot be beat...
but still for inflight use I like the smaller red or green that I have
on a lanyard

In-flight, sure, no super-bright needed, or wanted! g

With 9 lights, I'll bet it is decent. I still wonder how many watts it is,
overall.

I have some multi LED lights. (I'm a REAL flashlight junkie) I still could not
believe the brilliance of the single 3 watt bulb. The brightness is one factor.
The color of the light is the real eye-opener.

See if you can find someone that has the 3 watt mag-light bulb in a 3 or more D
cell flashlight. Compare your 9 light vs. the 1 light, side by side. My guess
is that you will be as impressed as I was, still. You have to see it to believe
it.

Someone who has both, compare, and let us know what you think. I am curious, to
be sure!
--
Jim in NC

napd wrote:
I like the led style that I can
hang around my neck red or green color. easy to find stay away from
the one light multi colors... unless it has a foolproof switch system
you spend more time fumbling for the right switch nothing worse than
trying for red or green and getting white ...

Those things are so good on batteries that I usually leave mine on. I
also "dimmed" mine by adding layers of tape over the LED's.

I don't know whether many have seen these, but WalMart has finger lights for
less than $2 each. They are little LEDs with batteries. The case has two
little velcro straps to hook around your finger. I have two clipped to the
outside of my flight bag. I haven't used them in the airplane, as I don't
fly at night that often, but they worked great during a power failure. The
light is blue-white, and would need to be filtered if you want red light.

"napd" wrote in message
s.com...
Hi,
Well everyone has given great advice which I agree with. The only
thing that I can add is this
COCKPIT ORGANIZATION by this I mean know were everything is without
having to go fishing for it. in a dark cockpit it can be difficult or
impossible to have to go looking for things in your flight bag. The
only other thing I can add is have at least two flashlights and spare
batteries. I date mine when they are put in and they are replaced every
year or sooner depending on usage.. I like the led style that I can
hang around my neck red or green color. easy to find stay away from
the one light multi colors... unless it has a foolproof switch system
you spend more time fumbling for the right switch nothing worse than
trying for red or green and getting white ... I also carry a mini mag
light for the preflight.

On 9 Dec 2006 10:40:50 -0800, wrote:

I have about 150 total hours now, but my only night flights were during
my training as required for certification.

I fly in the Bay Area, CA I would love to see the beautiful scenery of
the city lights that night flying offers.

How long does it take to comfortabley fly at night and how do those of
you that fly at night navigate in the dark?

That depends on the individual and their comfort factor.
Whether VFR or IFR I navigate just like I do in the day time...VF R
it's looking out the windows and IFR...is self explanatory.


Or I guess a better question is what techniques do you use at night to
navigate that are different then how you navigate during the day?

If in a populated area with lots of lights it's just like flying in
the day time. You know where the horizon goes in the windshield, based
on the lights, put it there. OTOH I'd not recommend night VFR in
sparsely populated areas. In these cases there is no visual horizon
unless there is a bright moon.

My Deb has very poor panel lighting so I wear a little Head band (head
light consisting of a dim red LED, a dim white LED, and a set of very
bright white LEDs (don't switch the last one on at night in the cabin
or it gets very dark outside) I also carry several spare flashlights
of various sizes including at least one very bright one for survival.
On one night instrument flight I had problems with all of the
flashlights except the big, *bright* (very bright) 3 cell. I used it
by placing my hand over the lens and letting the light leak through my
fingers. That was through, not between!


Do you just fly the altitudes that you fly during the day time to stay
safely from getting too close to anything?

I pretty much fly the same at night as I do in the day. Landings a
bit different, but you learn to use the landing light properly and
otherwise judge distances. BTW your daylight distance judging will be
shot at night and that probably takes longer than anything else to get
used to.

Unless you are close enough to suitable landing terrain and know where
it is located there is little use in flying higher as you can't see
where you are going to land any way, but that depends on the terrain,
visibility, and availability of nearby airports.


I know the easy answer is to go up with an instructor, and I plan too,
but I wanted to hear from you all first and see what you do differently
at night versus the day and how many of you actually take advantage of
night flying.

Night flying is beautiful in populated areas or on nights with a full
moon. Using High speed film I've even taken some night shots that
came out quite well.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

Unless you are close enough to suitable landing terrain and know where
it is located there is little use in flying higher as you can't see
where you are going to land any way, but that depends on the terrain,
visibility, and availability of nearby airports.

That depends on how low you fly during the day, doesn't it? During
the day it's generally safe to fly below the tops of nearby terrain
since you can see it. At night this is somewhat less bright.

Also, additional altitude gives more time to troubleshoot and solve a
problem with the fan. It may take longer at night just because of the
visibility issues.

Jose
--
"There are 3 secrets to the perfect landing. Unfortunately, nobody knows
what they are." - (mike).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

On Fri, 15 Dec 2006 09:39:21 -0500, Jose
wrote:

Unless you are close enough to suitable landing terrain and know where
it is located there is little use in flying higher as you can't see
where you are going to land any way, but that depends on the terrain,
visibility, and availability of nearby airports.

That depends on how low you fly during the day, doesn't it? During
the day it's generally safe to fly below the tops of nearby terrain
since you can see it. At night this is somewhat less bright.

Depends on where you are flying.

Around here you'd need a fair amount of gas just to get where you
could safely find a spot where you could fly below the tops of
surrounding terrain. Even flying *very* low over sparsely populated
areas I'd need to go about 60 miles to get that low without worrying
about hitting telephone lines and cell phone towers.

Also, additional altitude gives more time to troubleshoot and solve a
problem with the fan. It may take longer at night just because of the
visibility issues.

The only complete engine failure I've had was close to the ground as
in between 30 and 50 feet. I did the trouble shooting without ever
looking at the switches and valves. It didn't restart any way.
It had a blown diaphragm in the fuel distribution spider on top of the
engine.



Jose
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

On Sat, 9 Dec 2006 10:40:50 -0800, wrote
(in article . com):

I have about 150 total hours now, but my only night flights were during
my training as required for certification.

I fly in the Bay Area, CA I would love to see the beautiful scenery of
the city lights that night flying offers.

How long does it take to comfortabley fly at night and how do those of
you that fly at night navigate in the dark?

Most flight instructors fly a fair amount at night, of course, but the wise
ones only do it under conditions of their choosing. Most of them become
extremely familiar with the local area or their particular favorite cross
country route. The Bay area would be much easier to navigate than, say, the
open desert because of the lights of the city and the distinctive patterns of
water and bridges.