Night IFR, a whole new ballgame

Weekend Warrior

Weekend Warrior

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Mr Madman
Not sure to post this here or lessons learned:

So last night, we had the weather I've been waiting for to try night IFR: low-ish (1200-1500) MVFR ceilings, with decent visibility underneath, warm temps in the clouds, and a stable forecast. I've had my instrument rating for over a year, and I've used it often, picking up about 50 hours actual to add to my 45 hours of simulated I had while getting the rating. I fly a some-what basic aircraft with no autopilot. Somehow over the past 20 months of instrument flying, I've done all my approaches during the day, with the exception of one "very light" IFR evening, flying through a thin layer to land just after dark.
So last night I filed for a local round robin to leave well after dark. I have to admit, I did not expect anything to be much different than during the day, which may have been part of the problem. I did place my red-lensed flashlight in my lap for reading the approach charts or looking at my outside temp gauge, and thought that would be my only required difference from day IFR.
After takeoff, the first "mistake" I made was forgetting to shut off my landing light until I entered the clouds, at which point it became a distraction. But even after shutting off the light I discovered things were not like daytime IFR flight.
My plane has a very well lit dash, but the lights are all red in color. What I found is the red light completely washes out all the color from my instruments. I was surprised at what a hindrance that is, especially with my attitude indicator. With the red lighting, the only thing visible with my attitude indicator are the thin white horizontal degree lines and the "little airplane"; everything else on the AI vanishes! Then there's the airspeed indicator. I can still see the numbers fine, but never realized how much I reference the colors on that instrument as well.
After about 10 minutes of struggling in solid clouds, I finally got smart and turned my dome light on. This actually was a fantastic help, because it also meant I didn't need to fumble with the flashlight for looking at the approach chart, or writing/reaching for/getting something else in the cabin. I have to admit it felt weird though, flying along in the dark with a very bright interior light turned on, basically making me blind to the outside world (not that there was anything to see in the solid layer I was in). I kept the dome light on until I was sure I was completely out of the clouds on the approach and I could see the ground lights once out of the clouds, even with the bright interior light.

The flight was only 30 minutes out. I was planning on only doing a low approach, calling missed, and returning home, but I felt I needed a break so I landed and took a few minutes. While on the ground, the ceilings went up to about 2000 so I flew VFR back. At this point, I'm not sure what else I can do to make this easier short of again turning on the dome light, or just "getting used to it".
Anyone else experience this?
 
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Weekend Warrior said:
At this point, I'm not sure what else I can do to make this easier short of again turning on the dome light, or just "getting used to it".
Anyone else experience this?
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Perhaps in the early 1960s it was determined that red lighting was not only unnecessary, it is harder to use as you found out. Granted, white lighting can affect your night vision, but you don't use night vision to see approach lights or runway lights, etc.
 
Weekend Warrior said:
... At this point, I'm not sure what else I can do to make this easier short of again turning on the dome light, or just "getting used to it".
Anyone else experience this?
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Excellent job finding a solution to a problem and then implementing it. Don’t sell yourself short in that regard.

Here’s an excellent, brief article from Aviation Safety that graphically demonstrates alternative instrument lighting options.

https://www.aviationsafetymagazine.com/features/cockpit-lighting-choices/

I’d recommend a change from red instrument lighting, personally.
 
I think green is the new red for flashlights and interior lighting for night vision.... I'll find the article I saw on this a while back and post it..
 
Thanks for the pirep. I recently did several night landings for commercial qualifications and I was surprised myself at how hard it is to see the instruments and buttons in the dark. I was glad my dad came along to help. I had never thought about the red "washing" out some colors but that makes sense. I guess I'll start looking for a green light now.
 
I put red lights in my plane for the spooky visual effect. I actually never have them on though because I have all glass.

Night IFR in IMC with a steam gauges, no autopilot plane is intense though. Did it once and that was enough for me.
 
I flew a long night cross country in hazy VFR recently and had some of the same observations. The dome light was out. Just a couple times, I used a regular white flashlight aimed up and towards the back for a softer illumination of the cabin but most of the flight I used the ancient red lights on the panel.
 
You may want to put a lower watt bulb in the overhead light. Or do something to the plastic dome light cover to soften and lower the brightness. Most Pipers have a little plastic window in the dome unit, change the plastic to green - green magic marker on the plastic is easiest. Or any color that works for you.
 
The captain’s instruments should have red lighting, the copilot’s should have green. Otherwise the passengers will think there’s another airplane heading straight towards them.
 
imo Red lighting was a great idea when people were wanting to shoot at you. But with the modern airspace system anything you need to see outside is going to be lit up, so don't worry to much about your night vision and light the cockpit up so you can see what you need to see with ease.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
 
Go green. Military switched to green a long time ago. Not just for tactical reasons but night vision preservation and it doesn’t wash out your panel / maps.
 
Thanks for the PIREP on the lights. Stories like this make me thankful that I have a working autopilot to help with the task management. The unexpected difficulty reading the instruments during a climb and then trouble shooting the solution. I like the idea of illuminating the cabin- don’t have to look outside anyway really so that almost forces u to keep head on the panel.
 
Panel lighting in many light singles leaves much to be desired. The recessed red panel lights in all the Grummans are totally inadequate to properly illuminate unlit instruments. The only conventional instruments I could see clearly were the ones I replaced with internal lighting. There are several solutions/workarounds:
  1. Wear a headlamp. I use a red/white headlamp or cap visor light at night. Point your nose at what you want to see and you get extra light. Works well. Always available in an emergency.
  2. Install third party LED strip lights. I haven't done this yet, but they are way better than the incandescent eyebrow bulbs.
  3. Install G5s or equivalent. This is WAAAY better than the conventional instruments, even internally lit ones. If you also have an EFB, then maps and charts are easy to see as well at night. I am really happy with the G5s at night.
I actually don't mind night IFR. I do it judiciously, but it's often smoother and quieter at night, and ATC is usually less busy and more helpful. Nothing is more pleasant than seeing the home drome show up in front of the nose on the instrument approach after a long flight. It's not a bad idea to file IFR at night even under VFR conditions, especially if flying to unfamiliar airports.
 
brcase said:
imo Red lighting was a great idea when people were wanting to shoot at you. But with the modern airspace system anything you need to see outside is going to be lit up, so don't worry to much about your night vision and light the cockpit up so you can see what you need to see with ease.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
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I always preferred a little night vision preservation for taxiing at poorly lit airports.
 
chemgeek said:
It's not a bad idea to file IFR at night even under VFR conditions, especially if flying to unfamiliar airports.
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I have been told that in some countries you can't even fly at night without an IFR rating or flight plan..
 
The headlamp thing. An adjustable brightness one. And don’t turn and say “What?” to your passengers or a CFI while you have it on. :)

Can also get them with red, a very bright red that even though it’ll wash out colors still, it’ll illuminate instruments much more and they’re plenty visible then.

Also good for fixing airport beater cars on the way home when they die. LOL.
 
MauleSkinner said:
I always preferred a little night vision preservation for taxiing at poorly lit airports.
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no argument there, have been known to shut down an push (or get a tug) planes back to the hanger due to a non-functioning taxi/landing light and a dark night.

Brian
 
I always wear my sportys red/white led headlamp when night flying. Glad u made it back home.
 
IMC, Night, Mountains. Pick one.

That's the rule I learned from a very experienced GA pilot. It avoids lots of potentially fatal problems. Among other things, it would avoid the problem that the OP experienced, of struggling with nighttime lighting while in the clouds.
 
There's a reason why the VFR and IFR maps use the colors they do. I highly suggest taking a look at them in the dark using a red light to see the difference.

As far as the night IFR is concerned, you don't need any soft lighting because it's not like you need to look outside, anyways. Just use something white (or green) but not very bright. I did my IR checkride in actual at night but I had done plenty of it at night during training. I was still ****ting bricks the whole time, though.
 
dreyna14 said:
There's a reason why the VFR and IFR maps use the colors they do. I highly suggest taking a look at them in the dark using a red light to see the difference.

As far as the night IFR is concerned, you don't need any soft lighting because it's not like you need to look outside, anyways. Just use something white (or green) but not very bright. I did my IR checkride in actual at night but I had done plenty of it at night during training. I was still ****ting bricks the whole time, though.
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Except for your responsibility to see and avoid when able.
 
aterpster said:
Perhaps in the early 1960s it was determined that red lighting was not only unnecessary, it is harder to use as you found out. Granted, white lighting can affect your night vision, but you don't use night vision to see approach lights or runway lights, etc.
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But yet this myth persists even today with the FAA as this is a question on the current IR test bank...
 
belbert said:
But yet this myth persists even today with the FAA as this is a question on the current IR test bank...
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During my early years training in the desert southwest, I questioned how anyone could make an emergency off field landing at night. I was shown how, only a few minutes after turning off all of the cabin and panel lights, I could see the terrain clearly enough to make out all the essential features, even without a moon. I still remember my surprise that so much could be seen. But it depends entirely on dark adaptation. A person's age and health also affects this ability. I don't think I will be able to see nearly as much now.
 
People who have flown with me at night are usually surprised at how low I set my brightness. I try to balance my cockpit visibility with my out-the-window view.

before we had green and NVG-compatible cockpit lighting in Army helicopters, we used various layers of masking tape to dull the caution lights and used white bulbs set really low intensity to preserve our night adaptation...
 
NoHeat said:
IMC, Night, Mountains. Pick one.

That's the rule I learned from a very experienced GA pilot. It avoids lots of potentially fatal problems. Among other things, it would avoid the problem that the OP experienced, of struggling with nighttime lighting while in the clouds.
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Quoted for the the truth!!!!

Add in a single engine aircraft as well as the lack of an autopilot or second pilot and you are asking for disaster in the SMS world.

For fun, I punched this same type of flight into my work's risk assessment calculator using my own qualifications as a baseline and it put me in the cautionary range.

When you push the weather and get into trouble, remember who put you there...
 
sarangan said:
During my early years training in the desert southwest, I questioned how anyone could make an emergency off field landing at night. I was shown how, only a few minutes after turning off all of the cabin and panel lights, I could see the terrain clearly enough to make out all the essential features, even without a moon. I still remember my surprise that so much could be seen. But it depends entirely on dark adaptation. A person's age and health also affects this ability. I don't think I will be able to see nearly as much now.
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Years ago, I flew with our local DNR pilot for a couple of nights looking for poachers. After a couple of hours it was almost like daytime.
 
My aircraft is so dark I don't even like to fly VFR at night. I do need to get myself a headlamp.
 
IK04 said:
People who have flown with me at night are usually surprised at how low I set my brightness. I try to balance my cockpit visibility with my out-the-window view.

before we had green and NVG-compatible cockpit lighting in Army helicopters, we used various layers of masking tape to dull the caution lights and used white bulbs set really low intensity to preserve our night adaptation...
Click to expand...

And we had red lights in the offices out at Lowe! ;) Always thought that was a bit extreme but hey, I guess it worked.
 
OP, have you flown much night VFR? If not, that might be a way to get used to what your panel looks like at night without the added stress/workload of IMC/IFR.
 
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