IFR currency

[midlifeflyer]

I’m a fairly new IR pilot in training but one of the frequently visited airports is difficult to see at night unless you turn the lights on. Just out by myself doing holding practice and an ILS approach in vmc on a dark night. I didn’t log it but it’s essentially an IMC approach until you hit the lights which I didn’t do until minimums. Great experience overall, and I repeated the same approach with my cfii at night soon after and did even better.

I guess my question is why would the lights be on if it’s a quiet airport at night?

You have provided one of the workable scenarios I mentioned earlier. Glad you found a place with no surrounding town with no cars in the roads, no street lights, no moonlight or enough light of any kind to help you keep your airplane upright until you turned on the PCL.

 

[RussR]

I guess my question is why would the lights be on if it’s a quiet airport at night?

Not all airports have pilot-controlled lighting. At some, they're just left on all night.

 

[Palmpilot]

I guess my question is why would the lights be on if it’s a quiet airport at night?

Not all airports have pilot-controlled lighting. At some, they're just left on all night.

My home field is an example. Palo Alto (PAO) is not a quiet airport, but it is fairly quiet at night. It's open 24 hours, but it does not have pilot-controlled lightimg, so the lights are kept on at night.

 

[smv]

Not all airports have pilot-controlled lighting. At some, they're just left on all night.

There is a private grass strip near here that has full lighting on every night. Runway lights and beacon on anytime it is dark. It is close enough to my home that when the ceiling is down I can see hte beacon passing over my place at night.

 

[denverpilot]

You have provided one of the workable scenarios I mentioned earlier. Glad you found a place with no surrounding town with no cars in the roads, no street lights, no moonlight or enough light of any kind to help you keep your airplane upright until you turned on the PCL.

There’s some places around that do meet the criteria.

Remember the Cirrus chute pull East of FTG where the guy lost the picture so bad on a VFR night that he found himself nearly inverted on the AI? He was practicing approaches. Decided he was low enough that if he didn’t pull, he’d be dead.

There’s farmhouse lights out there and such, plus the airport is usually lit... but he still didn’t remain upright.

 

[midlifeflyer]

There’s some places around that do meet the criteria.

Remember the Cirrus chute pull East of FTG where the guy lost the picture so bad on a VFR night that he found himself nearly inverted on the AI? He was practicing approaches. Decided he was low enough that if he didn’t pull, he’d be dead.

There’s farmhouse lights out there and such, plus the airport is usually lit... but he still didn’t remain upright.

Sure. But not too many IAPs there either