Night flying in the mountians in a cessna 150,

"Michael" wrote

I did it because I had a schedule to keep, a plane to move, and the guy
who hired me didn't hire me to sit on my ass because the engine might
quit. And the engine was in good shape, and the plane had a good
annual and several hours after the annual to shake out the bugs, and so
I judged the risk to be fairly low. In a typical rental, I might not
have done it - and I sure wouldn't do it all the time. The odds will
catch up with you eventually.

Michael

WoW. Good reasons? Hmmm. Personal standards? Hmmm. And admitting it
will catch up, signifying you realize that this will kill you? Hmmm.

Morgans wrote:
WoW. Good reasons? Hmmm. Personal standards? Hmmm. And admitting
it
will catch up, signifying you realize that this will kill you? Hmmm.

I'm a commercial pilot. When I am hired to move an airplane, I am
hired to do a job. That job includes risk. When I took my first job
out of school, troubleshooting distillation towers, I took a lot more
risk.

When you use the airplane as a tool (meaning a vehicle for getting you
where you want to go when you want to get there, and not just a way of
going up to see the pretty scenery, shoot some landings, and get a
hundred dollar burger or attend a fly-in) there is unavoidably going to
be some risk. If you don't, you could in theory get the risk down to
almost nothing. But only in theory.

In reality, the most dangerous segment of aviation isn't the people who
fly with a schedule to keep and a place to be. These people (the
self-flown business flyers and the commercial pilots) have a safety
record dramatically better than GA as a whole - in part, I think,
because they're not kidding themselves about the risks.

Who are the most dangerous people in GA? Well, it's not the the
personal flyers, who just go for hundred dollar burgers, attend flyins,
and look at the pretty scenery. They're number two - behind the
airshow performers, and slightly ahead of the cropdusters.

Don't believe me? Check out the Nall Report. It's on the AOPA site.

Michael

I think it was Chuck Yeager who said it was the third problem that
killed you. We can deal with two problems at once but we can't deal
with three.

So my rule is to never fly with more than one known problem because
unforeseen problems have a way of appearing when they aren't convenient.

As for flying at night over the mountains that is definitely a problem.
The plane and engine have to be in perfect condition. The weather has
to be perfect and I have to be current, rested and alert. If those
conditions are met then I wouldn't have a problem flying a Cessna 152 at
night over the mountains and I have done it a few times.

I personally think that weather in the mountains is a much more severe
problem than darkness.

LG

"Legrande Harris" wrote

The plane and engine have to be in perfect condition.

Perfect engines fail, too. Right?
--
Jim in NC

Morgans wrote:

Perfect engines fail, too. Right?

Yep. One that quit on takeoff at Kupper was a Mattituck overhaul with only a few
hours on it. That's about as perfect as you're gonna get in this world. The CFI
did a fantastic job of returning to the airport from about 600' AGL, refused the
offer of a drink, and went home (presumably to change).

George Patterson
I prefer Heaven for climate but Hell for company.

In article ,
"Morgans" wrote:

"Legrande Harris" wrote

The plane and engine have to be in perfect condition.

Perfect engines fail, too. Right?

Everything mechanical will break.

Do I want to be flying at night over the mountains when my engine dies?
The thought of spiraling down into a black hole doesn't really appeal to
me

I actually enjoy flying at night though. I learned to fly down in
Arizona and flying at night with a full moon across the desert was a
wonderful experience. At night I would have less turbulence, the
aircrafts performance was better and most of the time I could see the
ground well enough to probably survive an engine out landing.

So is it worth the risk? Is it worth the risk not to?

LG