Dark!

SCCutler

SCCutler

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Spike Cutler
Yesterday's mission: Fly from Marfa, Texas (KMRF), in far, far west Texas, up to Ruidoso, New Mexico (KSRR, aka Sierra Blanca), collect my bride and her girlie friend, and fly home to Dallas.

Wind. Such wind. It was gusting in the 40+knot range at both Marfa and Ruidoso, and well over 50 knots at Guadalupe Peak (right on the flight path). Those winds, in those hills (not to mention off alignment with runways at both ends) meant no flying all day. It was tump-you-over-standing-up weather at Marfa.

Finally eased up to manageable ("West-Texas Calm," meaning 15 knots), so I launched right at sunset, climbing right away to 9,500' for terrain clearance.

Folks, it is DARK out there. I mean, no moon, dark dark. The mountain turbulence had abated mostly, a few bumpies, but generally good, but I had to rely upon IMC skills entirely.

Did I mention it was dark?

And, when I landed, it was cold, too, so I loaded up the girls, got the pax briefing done, and launched; better climb performance than I expected, departing from a 6,800' elevation airport, so that cold was not wasted. Home to Dallas at 11,500', and it was almost like I had a private circuit to ATC much of the way; the occasional airliner and lil' ol' me.

Worst bumps of the night were in the last 3 minutes or so, gusty at Addison, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, but I managed not to bend anything, then home to dog, cat and bed.

Filled up in Marfa, flew to SRR then to ADS, landed with almost two hours cruise fuel remaining. Remarkable things, these aeroplanes!
 
I learned to fly in west Texas. The most beautiful sunsets I have seen while flying were out there. Of course, after that I got to experience the darkness you describe.
 
Reminds me of a trip I took to Hot Springs shortly after getting my PPL. Lived in Harrison, AR at the time. Had a nice dinner with my bride and then flew home.

No moon, and there ain't **** between Hot Springs and Harrison. Told my bride "you watch for traffic, I'll watch my instruments." And I did for about an hour.

Wasn't the smartest move I ever made and it's a danged good thing I had an overly conservative primary instructor who had me under the hood during training far more than the minimum required.

What's that they say about "good judgment?" ;)
 
SCCutler said:
Wind. Such wind. It was gusting in the 40+knot range at both Marfa and Ruidoso, and well over 50 knots at Guadalupe Peak (right on the flight path). Finally eased up to manageable ("West-Texas Calm," meaning 15 knots), so I launched right at sunset, climbing right away to 9,500' for terrain clearance.

Folks, it is DARK out there. I mean, no moon, dark dark. The mountain turbulence had abated mostly, a few bumpies, but generally good, but I had to rely upon IMC skills entirely.
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Guadalupe Peak can cause some massive TB upto 40-50 miles on the lee side in those winds ... ask me how I know:nonod:

On the plus side, you should have had a great tailwind last night.

When it's that dark, occasionally the ground lights will appear to start moving (like car lights coming down a mountain pass highway). Landing Ruidoso at night isn't on any list of things that I want to accomplish;)
 
Florida Everglades on a moonless night. It's like flying into a black void of nothingness kind of dark! There is no up, there is no down, it's just a black painted windshield. :yikes:
 
Spike,

You done good!

Remember the story that Lucky told at the Safety Seminar when standing next to the pile of rubble that used to be a helicopter? If your Instrument skills weren't any better than that fellow, you and your lovely Missus might not be around to relate the flight to us.

Hats off to you.
 
SCCutler said:
Yesterday's mission: Fly from Marfa, Texas (KMRF), in far, far west Texas, up to Ruidoso, New Mexico (KSRR, aka Sierra Blanca), collect my bride and her girlie friend, and fly home to Dallas.

Wind. Such wind. It was gusting in the 40+knot range at both Marfa and Ruidoso, and well over 50 knots at Guadalupe Peak (right on the flight path). Those winds, in those hills (not to mention off alignment with runways at both ends) meant no flying all day. It was tump-you-over-standing-up weather at Marfa.

Finally eased up to manageable ("West-Texas Calm," meaning 15 knots), so I launched right at sunset, climbing right away to 9,500' for terrain clearance.

Folks, it is DARK out there. I mean, no moon, dark dark. The mountain turbulence had abated mostly, a few bumpies, but generally good, but I had to rely upon IMC skills entirely.

Did I mention it was dark?

And, when I landed, it was cold, too, so I loaded up the girls, got the pax briefing done, and launched; better climb performance than I expected, departing from a 6,800' elevation airport, so that cold was not wasted. Home to Dallas at 11,500', and it was almost like I had a private circuit to ATC much of the way; the occasional airliner and lil' ol' me.

Worst bumps of the night were in the last 3 minutes or so, gusty at Addison, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, but I managed not to bend anything, then home to dog, cat and bed.

Filled up in Marfa, flew to SRR then to ADS, landed with almost two hours cruise fuel remaining. Remarkable things, these aeroplanes!
Click to expand...

Nice PIREP!

Darkest flight I've ever had was returning home from Amarillo, TX (Tradewinds Airport, up in the panhandle) solo to Grand Prairie, TX (south of DFW). It was dark, winter (December) and I was one month from my Instrument checkride, but SO glad that I was already taking instrument training. That would have been uncomfortable for a VFR pilot on that dark moonless night. There was NO outside references even though it was a clear day, and the sparse ground lights (what of them there were) merged with the stars with no discernible horizon.
 
ADS always seems to be gusty! I guess the wind tumbling over the adjacent offices really stirs things up. I've had some challenging landings there and more than one "go around".
 
One of the nice things about living in the boring cold Midwest is its the boring cold populated Midwest. Ground lights give one spatial orientation during the darkest nights. Never found it problematic myself.
 
I hears the U.S. is the only place pilots can fly at night w/o IR
Is that true?
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I hears the U.S. is the only place pilots can fly at night w/o IR
Is that true?
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No, it has NEVER been true. It was the case that most of Europe banned VFR at night, but that's been changing. The UK has allowed VFR at night for a couple of years and the countries in the EU are permitted to make their own decision on it.
 
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steingar said:
One of the nice things about living in the boring cold Midwest is its the boring cold populated Midwest. Ground lights give one spatial orientation during the darkest nights. Never found it problematic myself.
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All depends on where in the Midwest you mean. In Ohio and in southern lower Michigan, that's true for the most part. Once you get north of Saginaw, it's hit or miss. My first experience flying solo at night up there convinced me that I needed to be on the gauges. You find similar conditions many places in northern New England too. Weekend before last coming over the mountains east of Burlington, it was definitely instrument conditions due to lack of visual ground reference.
 
tonycondon said:
There's Dark and then Marfa Dark :)
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I bet that's a lot like Wyoming Dark. Intellectually I knew I was above the hills. It didn't matter, my reptile brain was screaming until dawn...
 
Bobanna said:
Interesting observations...absolute blackness can be very disorienting. Most areas in the States have a few ground lights (mercury-vapor floodlights, even in rural areas) that a sense of horizon is putatively possible. I got frightened over western Hudson Bay between Rankin Inlet and Churchill, MB in severe VFR at night. Black as dark gets. Could see the REILS at Churchill from 60 miles away...autokinesis illusion, just like we are taught. Of course, getting a fast scan going was essential, and all worked-out as planned. A frightening illusion, though, and I was glad there was no high terrain or obstacles to worry about. Fly safely and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
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My most disorienting was a after-midnight arrival into Provincetown, MA out on the tip of Cape Cod on a moonless night over the Atlantic. That was very dark.
 
Dark is being out over the middle of the Pacific Ocean, waiting for the KC-135 to show up with your fuel.
 
It's amazing how dark dark can actually be. The darkest night I've seen was a 2am flight home from Pueblo Colorado to Lincoln in a 205. I had no idea if I was in VMC or IMC because I couldn't see a damn thing.
 
jesse said:
It's amazing how dark dark can actually be. The darkest night I've seen was a 2am flight home from Pueblo Colorado to Lincoln in a 205. I had no idea if I was in VMC or IMC because I couldn't see a damn thing.
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A little O2 will help that. There are small town and farm lights out there but they tend to disappear when above 8 to 10 thousand. I started using O2 and they all came back.
 
Yesterday, the wind screamed out of the west. We were bombarded by millions of 50mph tumbleweeds which had decided to make like a chicken and switch to the other side of the road. What a sight.
Birds were doing unintentional aerobatics. It was like the atis attached below, minus the convection.
I got to watch a master at work, calling in all resources available to make a skillful, workable plan which proved itself in the end. Some challenge with residual winds, darkness & mountainous terrain but not beyond safe limits.

Today was beyond halcyonic. Calm, cool, visibility in the triple digits.
 

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When the wind is up, that is a rough part of the country to fly in. There's a couple pipes out there I used to fly and sometimes I'd have to put my helmet on.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Yesterday, the wind screamed out of the west. We were bombarded by millions of 50mph tumbleweeds which had decided to make like a chicken and switch to the other side of the road. What a sight.

Birds were doing unintentional aerobatics. It was like the atis attached below, minus the convection.

I got to watch a master at work, calling in all resources available to make a skillful, workable plan which proved itself in the end. Some challenge with residual winds, darkness & mountainous terrain but not beyond safe limits.



Today was beyond halcyonic. Calm, cool, visibility in the triple digits.
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Hi Dave!!
 
That whole "wind" thing was everywhere in Texas yesterday.

We flew to Henderson, over on the East side of the state, and saw 51 knot winds aloft! Amazingly, it was fairly smooth, but it resulted in some interesting cloud formations.

We were at 9500' when I snapped this pic:
10389467_767239696645260_1556573226645282250_n.jpg


Here's my EFIS, showing the 51 knot wind arrow. (Right by the barometric pressure, on the right side of the screen.)

10532372_767240203311876_8739652649579313643_n.jpg


If that were only a direct tailwind! Being from the port side, we only gained about 19 knots, but a 189 ground speed ain't too bad. :D
 
That part of the world can get really dark at night. I've done a number of flights over West Texas, NM and Arizona. There are places where you need to be IFR and follow departure procedures because there is no light at all.
 
Dark in the west + no moon = IFR rating recommended
 
Marfa Dark? That's different. The phrase I always heard was Marfa Lights.
 
Taking off on 31 at Marfa at night is a shock if you have not done it, or have not anticipated it. I am sure other places are similar, such as over water.
The runway lights recede gradually and then it is you and the panel, you can strain your eyes out the window but you really need to immediately forget it, and just concentrate on your vsi & attitude indicator! (not to start a debate on primary vs secondary, you get the idea)
 
Dark is turning your headlamp off inside a cave. That is darkness that plays with your senses.

Darkest flight I've been on was a moonless marginal VFR flight in northern Arkansas. I felt very disconnected from the world during that flight.
 
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