Night flying can be calming, picturesque and exhilarating. But it can also be stressful and disorienting if you’re not prepared.
Recall that you need (at least) three landings to a full stop within the last 90-days to carry passengers at night. That’s a regulatory minimum; for real proficiency you will want to have a lot more recent night experience before embarking on a night-flying mission with passengers.
Remember, the mountains aren’t lit, and you can’t see clouds at night either. Many times you won’t have an easily discernible horizon to work with, which makes VFR attitude flying at night even more challenging.
The first clue that your vision is being obscured by either mountains or cloud is usually a gradual disappearance of lights on the ground.
TONIGHT’S FORECAST: DARK!
Of course it couldn’t be as simple as that whenever it’s dark, it’s night. There are actually three FAA definitions of night, and each relates to a different flight or logging regulation for pilots.
Sunset to Sunrise - This is the period during which you must operate position and anticollision lights on your aircraft.
1-hour after Sunset to 1-hour before Sunrise - This is the period during which you need to log 3 full-stop landings in the last 90-days to be current to fly passengers at night. (You would think they would use the ‘civil twilight’ definition, above, like they do for logging night flying, but they don’t.)
Here are some tips and reminders to help you through all phases of flight at night.
PREFLIGHT
•When you know you have an upcoming night flight, do a pre-flight check a couple days ahead of time. That gives you time to fix or resolve any exterior or interior light issues you may have.
•Have plenty of flashlights --- with fresh batteries --- available. How many flashlights do you need for night flying? It always seems like one more than you have!
•Try to conduct the pre-flight check of the plane in a lighted, heated, controlled environment (the hangar!)
•Remember at engine start, it’s going to be dark in the cabin until after the engine is started. You do have a flashlight readily available for engine start, right?
TAXIING AND AIRPORT OPERATIONS
•Remember the taxiway is after the sign.
•Keep it slow and stay alert.
•Taxiway lights:
Edge lights: blue
Centerline: green
•If you get lost or confused: Ask ATC for help!
TAKEOFF AND CLIMB OUT
•Limited availability of outside references. Use flight instruments to a greater degree.
•Cockpit lights: Set for minimum brightness required.
•Takeoff roll – Aligned w/ centerline; straight between and parallel to runway-edge lights.
•After takeoff; adjust pitch attitude using both outside references and flight instruments.
•Confirm climb with VSI and Altimeter; airspeed at best rate of climb speed.
CRUISE FLIGHT
•Choose a route with clearly visible landmarks (cities, airports, etc.)
•Choose a route with airports within gliding distance (if possible).
•Use the spot elevation figures on the chart and add a sufficient margin when you choose cruising altitude.
•Crossing large bodies of water at night is dangerous; unable to maintain horizon
APPROACHES & LANDINGS
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• Brief yourself on what kind of lights the airport has and how they are controlled before your flight. This is a step you probably never ever do with day VFR flights!
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•Identify runway lights & other airport lighting ASAP.
•Fly toward rotating beacon until lights outlining runway are distinguishable.
•To fly proper size/direction traffic pattern, threshold and runway-edge lights must be positively identified.
•Estimation of altitude & speed is more difficult at night.
•Utilize flight instruments more, but remember, we will NOT be flying IMC at night!!!
•Runway lighting at destination airport - You did check the A/FD as part of your preflight, didn’t you???
•MIRL, HIRL, LIRL --- Huh? Refresh what these lighting configurations represent, and correlate them to lighting at airports with which you are familiar
•Check out the AIM: 2-1-4 Runway Edge Lights
•Table 2-1-1 in the AIM even tells you how to control PCL!
TRAFFIC PATTERN
•Allow for plenty of time to complete checklist
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•Set heading bug to runway heading
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•Maintain recommended airspeeds and normal “daytime” approach
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•Crosscheck VSI & Altimeter on Base & Final approach legs --- use VASI/PAPI !
•On final, aligned for centerline, note any wind drift.
•Pitch & Power for stabilized approach
•Landing light ON, on final approach
•Prior to aircraft shutdown, if next flight will during the day, reset aircraft lighting.
GENERAL NIGHT TIPS
•Beware of the black hole illusion. Solution: Use VASI or PAPI, navaids Click here to read more.
•It takes 5-10 minutes to adjust to dim light; 30-min to adjust to darkness. Every time you’re exposed to bright light, you have to “reset” your night vision all over again.
•At night look slightly off center; don’t focus on an item like you do during the day.
•Fatigue, colds, vitamin deficiency, alcohol, stimulants, smoking, medication can seriously impair vision
•On a clear night, stationary objects are often mistaken for stars or other aircraft.
•Dark nights tend to eliminate reference to a visual horizon.
•Autokinesis – staring at single light source for several seconds on a dark night. Click here for more
•Flickering light in cockpit, strobe or anti-collision lights, can cause flicker vertigo, resulting in nausea, dizziness, grogginess, headaches or confusion.
•If unsure of position or altitude: Go Around!
•Bright runway and approach systems – Illusion of less distance to runway. Tendency to fly a higher approach.
•Trouble judging distance; possibly confusing approach and runway lights.
•Sometimes roads may look like runways at night.
GO AROUNDS
•Integrate the attitude indicator into your pitch reference scan if going around at night, or any time forward visibility is limited.
•A go around should always be an option --- at night just as during the day.
•Review the takeoff notes – crosscheck VSI, Altimeter & Airspeed with (limited) visual cues available.
•Keep the airport in sight at all times, as you make a standard traffic pattern (unless non-standard specified).
•Research“false climb” and “Somatogravic Illusion“ Click here for more
NIGHT EMERGENCY PROCEDURES
In case of engine failure:
•Maintain positive control of the airplane (best glide)
•Check last thing you did (fuel selector, mag switch)
•Announce emergency to ATC (121.5 if you’re not already w/ ATC); squawk 7700.
•If condition of nearby terrain is known, turn towards an unlighted portion of the area.
•Complete before landing checklist; landing light ON
•If you don’t like what you see, turn the landing light OFF (credit to John King for that line)
•If landing on a major interstate; land with the red car tail-lights, not the white headlights (land with traffic)
•After landing, turn off all switches & evacuate ASAP.
RULES & REGS
•91.209 – Aircraft Lights
Position lights
Anti-collision lights – must work & must use ‘em if you have ‘em! (Exception: interest of safety)
•91.205 (c) – Instrument & Equipment Requirements – VFR Night
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-VFR/Day equipment + above (post 1971)
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- Landing light (if for hire)
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-Source of electrical energy for electrical equipment
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-Spare set of fuses (or 3 spare for each kind), where?
NIGHT REQUIRED EQUIPMENT: F.L.A.P.S.
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✓Fuses (one complete set or 3 of each kind)
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✓Landing Light (if for hire)
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✓Anti-collision lights (if installed)
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✓Position lights
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✓Source of electric power.
•Visibility/Ceiling limits in B/C/D/E airspace: same at night (Night/G is the same as Day/controlled airspace)
•Fuel requirements - 45 minute reserve
•Recency: 3 full stop landings in 90-days to carry pax (1-hr after sunset to 1-hr before sunrise).
•Personal minimums - do you have them written down in your flight bag?
•Weather (Fog, clouds, mountain obscuration)
•Terrain - Know the MEF in every quadrant you fly!
•Flashlights! Always need one more than you have. Red to preserve cockpit vision (makes reading sectionals difficult).
•Pre-flighting/starting in dark!
•Log night time (civil twilight to civil daylight); currency/recency is 1-hr after/before sunset/rise.
Have fun, fly safely, and send me a picture from your next spectacular night flight!
THINK & DO PAGE
Here’s some fun stuff you can do to improve your night-flying proficiency:
• Plan a casual, short cross-country flight that begins at dusk.
• Practice landings with and without a landing light. Sharpen those visual cues so that not seeing the runway in front of you is not that big of a deal.
• Click here to review Aviation Safety Magazine’s “The Forgotten Maneuver” (relating to go arounds)
© 2012 Garry Wing