ever turn out all cockpit lights/night ?

[jsoceanlord]

has anyone else ever turned out all the cockpit lights at night (above 18000 feet) and tripped out on the cosmos .................?

 

[skyking1976]

Yep... really neat over the Rockies on a clear night.

SK

 

[Typhoon1244]

has anyone else ever turned out all the cockpit lights at night (above 18000 feet) and tripped out on the cosmos .................?

I think some of us can trip out on the cosmos without turning out the lights...or even getting in a plane.

 

[hydroflyer]

You can also do it at lower altitudes or less populated areas or if you get on top of a thick overcast with clear above. I often dim the lights but unless the viewing is real good I usually don't turn them all the way off. Still seem to see objects passing through the atmosphere on a nightly basis. Pretty cool.

 

[mar]

Talk about trippy!

You don't have a hair on yerass if you turned off them lights with an autopilot.

 

[WrightAvia]

One night I was returning from dropping off 135 pax and I was operating VFR while passing under a MOA that started at 8,000 feet. There was a whole gaggle of fighter jets dancing above me. You could see fast moving lights all over. Looked like something out of star wars.

There was a full moon at the time and as I followed one set of blinky lights, it passed in front of the moon. The blinky lights became a silhouette for a second or so and then passed off of the moon to become blinky lights again. It was a surreal sight.

 

[rettofly]

has anyone else ever turned out all the cockpit lights at night (above 18000 feet) and tripped out on the cosmos .................?

Yep. Ohdarkthirty departure from MTH direct SAT at FL390 with no moon. Never seen so many stars in my life.

 

[Airpiraterob]

Tripping out on the Cosmos? duuuude. don't need no plane for that one.

Anyone can be a Lunar Freakonaut.
Launch Windows are heavily dependant on the booking schedule of the Fillmore West and just don't loose control of your 25mg capsule on re-entry. floor pillows are your landing pad.

 

[FearlessFreep]

Sure, at night over the Sierras from KRNO to KOAK, full moon - Turned off all the interior lights and flew the aircraft all the way in that condition, yeah by hand. The moon was really bright and I could read all the guages. The lighting of the terrain below was really beautiful.

Other times include a number of night flights in a Piper Pawnee - No internal lighting, only basic required instruments (no gyro stuff). Read the instruments by the reflection of the rotating beacon (beacon is mounted on top of the cockpit) off the top of the wing and occasionally using a flashlight to read the fuel gauge which is outside of the cockpit on the cowling. These were moonless nights. One flight included a flight over the Sierras - was able to climb well above the terrain while the setting sun backlit the mountains before actually flying over them at night. Cool!

 

[huncowboy]

Have never turned down the lights yet (but that is not an issue in any 20+ years old Cessna 152 or 172 anyways). However on my 1st night flight ever I felt like I was Luke Skywalker over the Death Star ready to take out the Mobile gas station. Yeah keep laughing but seriously that was the thing that came to my mind. It was like 10NM SE of FLL. The place is so evenly populated, in every corner there seems to be a light bulb and since the whole thing is so flat it seemed like a perfect 2D surface under me. It is completely unreal. It was and still is awesome to fly over this area at night... pretty boring during the day unless the occasional formation flight attempts with a CoEx B1900 or some other IFR or GA traffic that scares the _crap out of me (and them).

 

[wickedpilot]

Yep. Departed PDK (Dekalb-Peachtree, Atlanta) for TEB (Teterboro, NJ) around 1830L last summer while the sun was setting. After a fuel stop in CHO (Charlottesville, Va.) the sun was down and the stars were out.

It was a crisp, dark night and we dimmed the lights in our 182 for most of the way up.
Best part was, I had a digital video camera on board and captured the moonlight reflecting off a solid layer of clouds just below us @ 11K.

If only I knew how to put the video on the forum. ???

 

[TurboS7]

All the time especially over the North Atlantic.

 

[Timebuilder]

Yes.

Day before I was laid off, coming back from SRQ.

Farm out.

 

[flyingwildfires]

What a trip!

Yeah -- totally unreal shows sometimes...

Favorite time is when going around thunderstorms, you get to see every single flash, even the ones way inside the clouds.... we've had some great shows coming back late at night from fires..

Also, you can't beat being in the mountains, in the middle of nowhere, under a full moon... Crater Lake once was lit up almost like day... also a few other National Parks... gorgeous.

And -- I almost had a stroke once, in a C-150, flying at night... remember that tiny little rear-view mirror? Well, there was a flashing red light in it suddenly, I was frozen in fear and actually hunched up, waiting for the impact of the mid-air (it HAD to be another airplane, right? This was in the middle of nowhere, too, and there wasn't another soul awake, much less out flying.) I was so scared and when that interminable second went by, and nothing hit me, I turned in shock and looked over my shoulder to see one of the most spectacular northern lights displays I have ever seen in my life... I was headed south... so they showed up in that rear-view mirror! I orbited around with all the lights off and enjoyed the spectacular show, until I reluctantly had to leave due to fuel concerns...

I tell ya, flying is okay sometimes, eh?