I wasn't going to write this post, but a comment on an earlier post changed my mind. Roughly ten percent of my flying time is night VFR, which means that I might know enough to be slightly dangerous.
First off, have flashlights. If you're not sure if you have enough flashlights, carry more. A chemlight tube or two can work as backup panel lights.
Second, raise your limits for weather. "Legal", according to FAR 91.155, will probably get you killed. I want better than five thousand and five if I am going to do pattern work and double that if I am leaving the pattern. Keep an eye on the temperature/dewpoint spread and be aware that if it is not terribly great, evening cooling can bring ground fog.
Third, night VFR is kinda-sorta-instrument flight. No, you don't need to lock onto the gauges, but the "six pack" should be in your scan. Especially out over rural areas and on moonless nights, which way is up isn't always going to be readily apparent.
Fourth, use all of the tools. If your airport has a localizer, tune it in. If your airplane have the gear for it, use the glideslope. Obviously, if the airport has VASI or PAPI, use it.
Now for some really opinionated stuff:
If you are not going to use any one tool for landing on a lit runway at night, don't use the landing lights. Landing lights can encourage "spotting", or focusing only on the area that is lit up. You need to consider the entire runway and keep your visual focus on the far end, just like you did when you were learning to land. If you are not comfortable landing without a landing light, then go get some more dual instruction.
This is also a matter of self-preservation: Other than the new (and very costly) LED landing lights, if any light is going to burn out in flight, it's probably going to be the landing light. The incandescent ones have a lifetime of maybe 10-20 hours, the halogen ones last longer.
Unless you have terrain issues, then this is the time to be flying like you have elderly nuns for passengers and nitroglycerine for cargo. Fly gently. Don't do steep "cowboy" turns, for that way lies vertigo. Don't hang on the prop in a climb. And your approaches should be stable like the jet drivers do it; motor on calmly down the glideslope and cut power when you're over the threshold. If you're too high, don't descend rapidly, go around and get set right.
Whatever you do, don't go low on the glideslope. Go around and do it right the next time.
Remember, the airplane can't tell the difference between day and night. It's all up to you.
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Monday, November 26, 2012
5 comments:
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Well said... Look what happened to Kennedy... sigh
ReplyDeleteI use the landing light if only to warn birds and other stupid pilots. However being able to fly and land without one is a required skill.
ReplyDeleteIt's not will it fail, be assured it will, but what will be the most annoying moment for it to fail!
I'd add, know where your are going and know the flight path well enough that consulting the map is not required. Also have a backup plan ready to go if ground fog or "other" happens. Night
is a good time to flight plan even simple trips so that radio frequencies, VOR, or even GPS way points do not need to be looked up. In all cases alternate airports and routes need to be handy.
Better yet if they are printed in a large bold
font in an orderly way to makes finding and reading under poor light easier. Also a longer trip should include flight services and any enroute and terminal area services the air traffic system can provide, they can really be helpful if you know how to take advantage of them. But you have to know what to ask for
and sometimes how to ask.
Weather at night while often more stable is also
more serious if not prepared for. Unless your
IFR certified and have all the goodies and
gauges don't fly in the muck. Conditions common to summer like 4miles in haze during the day is seriously hard to navigate VFR in at night
as there is no light and most terrain features disappear. Overcast may rob stars and maybe moon for visual orientation.
One of the fast ways to getting disoriented is
looking at a map for more than a confirmatory moment as the plane without autopilot will drift
off of level or the heading and your butt will lie about what way it went leading to a few moment of total which way is up. Being comfortable with believing the gauges is also
a useful learned skill along with partial panel
experience at night. A few hours of night IFR hood work can sharpen old skills.
Also organizing the cockpit so that all the tools
are in easy reach and secured so they can't get away is handy in eliminating the where is the light or map moment.
Night emergency landings.. a plan. This is an exercise that starts during day flight and also driving on the ground. The most likely times for engines to get cranky is when taking off or landing. Learn the areas that will be ahead
at the home and most likely destination airports
for possible places to land if need be. What they look like by day on the ground, in the
air, then by night.
Also events that would be annoying by day like the alternator going off line is a serious enough event at night to warrant landing now. In that case you have time but the lights will go out.
So use it to land before that happens.
Flying at night with experienced pilot partner is good as they can do the extra eyes and navigation but even in a small plane requires crew coordination so everyone is on the same plan. Those extra eyes and hands are worth it.
Been there and did that and I can say that when prepared you can truly enjoy the calmer evening air and the often far less and more visible air traffic. The small chunk of the world we inhabit is interesting to look at at night with a bright moon.
Eck!
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ReplyDeleteDear Miss Fit:
ReplyDelete(First, mea culpa...you know what I'm talkin' 'bout.)
I'll add one thought. My old instructor, Bob Parks, said, "At night, fly high!" As you know, the supply of clearly suitable places to put the airplane shrinks drastically at night and altitude multiplies options.
Also, Bob would flight-plan a zig-zag course for night cross-country flights to maximize time within gliding distance of a runway. He said that the time it added to the flight was trivial but the value of knowing you could reach a runway if the engine packed it in was priceless.
Good post for this time of year, Miss Fit. Thanks.
My instructor told me, in case of engine failure, "Head for the darkest place." I said, "But the darkest place will be trees!"
ReplyDeleteHe answered, "The worst thing it will be is trees."
I liked that honesty. It said to me, you can have your fun farting around up in the air, but don't you dare endanger anyone else if YOU end up with a problem.