My first night flight

Daniel L

Daniel L

Ejection Handle Pulled
Joined
Nov 26, 2017
Messages
216
Display Name
Display name:
Daniel
Picked up a new CFI recently (met him by chance at a brewery) and we went on a night flight yesterday. It was a new plane for me so it was treated as a discovery flight so I could get used to the cockpit and the plane's handling.

I have to say, without doubt, last night was the most fun I've had so far in my journey to ppl.

And what a view! I will thoroughly enjoy future night flights. He owns his own CH2000 and what a difference! I had been used to 172s for my lessons thus far.

Anyway, the timing is such that his 100 hour is scheduled for next week so we're going to be meeting for ground instruction for the next week or so.

I can't wait to get back up for some day flights so I can get accustomed to landing that sucker.

Sent from my cheap plastic brick using Tapatalk
 
I love flying at night. But, it does make engine-outs risky. An instructor once told me, "If you get an engine out at night, glide down until you're near the ground, then turn your landing light on. If you don't like what you see, turn it back off."
 
I love night flying too! It's so peaceful, the air is usually smoother, there's less traffic (and it's easier to spot because of the nav lights), and in many cases it can be easier to navigate using references like freeway traffic, lighted obstacles (e.g. radio towers), airport beacons, etc. It's also a blast to remotely control the runway lights via the radio :) Unfortunately it's a lot more dangerous, statistically speaking.
 
paflyer said:
Is it? Source (not challenging you, but would like real data.)
Click to expand...

I'm going by what one of my former CFIs says. He gave a presentation on night flying every year at Oshkosh for a long time, and he recently revisited the topic on his Aviation News Talk podcast. Here's a short quote from his article "Night Flying Safey-- What Your CFI DIdn't Teach You!" article:

Not surprisingly, the night accident rate is abysmal. Based on surveying hundreds of people who’ve attending my seminars, I’m confident that most GA pilots log less than 5% of their flight hours at night. Yet fully 21% of all fatal accidents in the U.S. occur at night. In the San Francisco Bay area, nearly 50% of all fatal accidents occur at night, probably because of the unique combination of fog and mountains.​

It should be easy to find the article or his podcast entitled "Private Pilot Night Flying Dangers" from 12/21/17 if you search. I'm not up to five posts yet so I can't post links :) The night flying discussion in the podcast starts at the 20 minute mark.
 
We are glad you enjoyed the night flying, but the more important question we all have is: you picked up your CFI at a bar? Are you crazy? :)
 
I prefer night, most of my non float flying is at night, good times.


So how'd you like that CH?
 
RalphInCA said:
We are glad you enjoyed the night flying, but the more important question we all have is: you picked up your CFI at a bar? Are you crazy? :)
Click to expand...

Where else ya gonna find one? No flying at the airport, check the bars.:D
 
Last edited:
The dude is entitled to have a beer after work.

To further clarify he is an instructor at an airline and freelances private. I really like him. And he won't rape me on rental fees or instrument training.

Sent from my cheap plastic brick using Tapatalk
 
Night flying is cool...and dangerous. When I'm out flying I am constantly looking at fields and roads (with long stretches without pwr lines) and thinking to myself "I could safely land there". Right now (I recently got my ticket) I don't plan on much night flying. If, at some point in the future, I do decide to night fly, I guess I will just try to land on a hiway and hope I don't hit any pwr lines, cars, signs, ditches, bridges, deer, people, trucks, or construction equipment.

I do enjoy it so I'll probably change my outlook. I've got a lot of confidence in my plane which has a few hundred hrs smoh. I've put 100 of those hrs on it without a hiccup. If it gets to 400 hrs with no hint of a problem I might just start rolling the dice. No way would I ever fly in a rental GA aircraft at night.
 
2Airtime2 said:
Night flying is cool...and dangerous. When I'm out flying I am constantly looking at fields and roads (with long stretches without pwr lines) and thinking to myself "I could safely land there". Right now (I recently got my ticket) I don't plan on much night flying. If, at some point in the future, I do decide to night fly, I guess I will just try to land on a hiway and hope I don't hit any pwr lines, cars, signs, ditches, bridges, deer, people, trucks, or construction equipment.

I do enjoy it so I'll probably change my outlook. I've got a lot of confidence in my plane which has a few hundred hrs smoh. I've put 100 of those hrs on it without a hiccup. If it gets to 400 hrs with no hint of a problem I might just start rolling the dice. No way would I ever fly in a rental GA aircraft at night.
Click to expand...
Infant mortality... popcorn

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
Where did you fly? There is a huge difference between flying over Los Angeles vs somewhere in rural Nevada. My first night cross country was Reno to Lovelock on an overcast moonless night. It is VERY dark out there with no horizon, no lights on the ground and no stars in the sky.
 
James331 said:
I prefer night, most of my non float flying is at night, good times.


So how'd you like that CH?
Click to expand...
I love it. Though, it took a bit to break out of the cessna habits. Theyre much easier to fly.

Sent from my SM-J327P using Tapatalk
 
DesertNomad said:
Where did you fly? There is a huge difference between flying over Los Angeles vs somewhere in rural Nevada. My first night cross country was Reno to Lovelock on an overcast moonless night. It is VERY dark out there with no horizon, no lights on the ground and no stars in the sky.
Click to expand...
I flew over folsom lake in norcal. Near O61.

Sent from my SM-J327P using Tapatalk
 
Daniel L said:
I flew over folsom lake in norcal. Near O61.

Sent from my SM-J327P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

That means you still have lots of lights on the ground from Sacramento to Auburn. The Central valley is full of lights and you can pick out all the towns from the blobs of light. Central Nevada is not like that. My night flight was for all practical purposes an instrument flight. If I had lost the vacuum system, it would have been an absolute emergency as that is how I was keeping the plane level since there was no horizon outside.

I remember when I clicked to light up the airport and it was the only set of lights on the ground... very disorienting and like landing on an aircraft carrier at night. I don't plan to do that again.

I am about to do my commercial night XC and thinking Wendover (on the NV/UT border) to Reno or Redding to Fresno. The latter has the huge advantage of lights on the ground, but I'd need to get a hotel as I live in Reno. I wouldn't fly over the Sierras at night.
 
Last edited:
While I do like night flying I have to admit that nighttime operations have accounted for less than 5% of my total stick time. I guess I don't like it that much.
 
I don’t mind flying at night,the airplane doesn’t know it’s night. The night lights from the city are always fun to see. As far as engine out,you just have to fly the plane and hope for the best.
 
I have an inordinate amount of night time from when I was younger and that was the only time I could fly. I also truly am a night owl and always have been.

Even after plowing through all these ratings in the last couple of years my night time is still 20% of my logbook. And @jesse and I did the majority of my instrument rating at night as well.

As I get older I respect and worry about it a little bit more. But I try to always maintain at least minimum night passenger currency year round. It’s a pain in the middle of summertime.

I’ve always joked that I would make for a good night freight dog. Way too many overnight and on call jobs where the only time I could down systems was at midnight to 2AM.

It does require some thought. And some acceptance of certain risks. And yes, there’s some night time visual “gotchas” for landings and takeoffs (takeoffs into a black hole in rural country can be as deadly as anything) that need to be understood and respected.

Highest early flare I ever did was at night. Wide runway. You know the visual problem. That airplane fell out of the sky from about 15’ up. Nothing damaged but my pride and a big reminder of the visual problems that can trap a tired pilot at night.

And of course doing laps at an airport with PCL and having the runway lights turn off right before the flare.

And lots of other things.

Also had a spooky one recently. Traffic called out by ATC and saw him pop up very late on the ADS-B also. He forgot his lights. I never saw him at all. Usually night flying you see traffic a LONG way off. But another reminder as the Controller gave me one of those “turn right ninety degrees immediately” right after the initial call out that all it takes is someone forgetting to flip the switch and they’re literally invisible.

I was glad I was on flight following. Which is also a rule. I won’t go anywhere at night away from the local pattern without it. The controller workload is usually low enough it’s almost always granted and if not, I’ll keep asking the next controller or facility until I get it.

Nowadays I would more likely just file IFR but I did a LOT of VFR night time over some very dark terrain over the years. Having a controller along for the ride adds at least some level of security knowing they’ll know where you went down.

The other thing I’ve done is purposefully plan the flight as airport to airport and higher than necessary. Better terrain clearance. Often within gliding distance of one of the airports, etc. Some altitude to recover an unusual attitude. Whatever. Mitigates SOME of the risks.

And of course we all know the rule for night off airport landings. Turn the landing light on. If you don’t like what you see, turn it back off. LOL
 
Last edited:
I did a ton of training at night, mostly because I had free time then and so did my instructor. I was better at night landings than day landings for most of my training, especially at airports with an ILS and the lights leading out right to a perfect 45 for my base turn. It didn't hurt that I trained in Southern California, with lights everywhere.
 
Steve Kanefsky said:
I'm going by what one of my former CFIs says. He gave a presentation on night flying every year at Oshkosh for a long time, and he recently revisited the topic on his Aviation News Talk podcast. Here's a short quote from his article "Night Flying Safey-- What Your CFI DIdn't Teach You!" article:

Not surprisingly, the night accident rate is abysmal. Based on surveying hundreds of people who’ve attending my seminars, I’m confident that most GA pilots log less than 5% of their flight hours at night. Yet fully 21% of all fatal accidents in the U.S. occur at night. In the San Francisco Bay area, nearly 50% of all fatal accidents occur at night, probably because of the unique combination of fog and mountains.​

It should be easy to find the article or his podcast entitled "Private Pilot Night Flying Dangers" from 12/21/17 if you search. I'm not up to five posts yet so I can't post links :) The night flying discussion in the podcast starts at the 20 minute mark.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I will.

Sent from my SM-J327P using Tapatalk
 
Im not in NVFR training yet only PPLbut night flight is awesome.... :)
 
It's usually smoother at night. I fly night XC occasionally, and accept the extra risk. These days I fly night XC IFR only, and try to fly over friendly terrain. If you take care on arrival and departure, maintain your aircraft and systems, and keep terrain awareness, you can minimize risk.
 
I love flying at night because most pilots get scared after sunset. So I have the pattern to myself, ATC is always more relaxed and accommodating, It feels like the sky is mine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top