night flight

[PILOTO]

hello everybody! i just need some different opinions, when you're flying to an unfamiliar airport at night VFR what are your procedures to stay safe and clear any obstructions? how do you enter the pattern? which runway you going to use (no asos) , how do you fly the approach? and any other things that i need to know about night flying. thanks everyone

 

[Jedi_Cheese]

I enter on 45 to downwind for VFR. AFD for TPA. If you have spare runway, try to keep 200ft+ AGL until short final or follow down the VASI/PAPI/ect.

Dunno what I would do if the airport didn't have ASOS (I just use the nearest airport with ASOS b/c it doesn't change all that much around here but this could vary in the mountains).

If I want to just scope it out, a low approach is useful because you can check the wind, get an idea of how the ramp is laid out, look for stuff on the runway, get an idea of what it looks like, ect. This is doubly true if the airport is smallish and there isn't much in the green book.

 

[x96connelly]

night flying

And don't forget unicom, keeping a good heads up on the radios - who else is out there - what they're doing and where they are. I always thought the low approach was a good idea, as well as flying 500 to 1000 feet above TPA right over the airport to get a good "god's eye view" of what you're about to fly into - then hit your 45 to downwind. As far as clear of obstructions goes, you can always check the approach plates for that airport and the dreaded "trouble T's" that may apply - and the assosiated MSA's for that airport. If you're unfamiliar with instrument approach plates, I'm sure any instrument rated pilot wouldn't mind explaining the basics to you quickly. The other big thing about night flying really is your night vision. All those tips about not looking at bright lights a good 1/2 hour or so before you fly and things really do make a difference. Of course don't be afraid to light up your aircraft as much as you can, to help keep yourself visible to others out there. All in all I think flying at night is great - it's usually smoother and quiter, and much easier to see the other traffic that's out there. It's a great time to fly, relax, and have some fun, which is what flying is all about, having fun!

 

[Lead Sled]

Piloto...

I love night flying. I'm sitting in a hotel room in Teterboro right now. We flew in a couple of nights ago and the view of the NYC skyline was incredible. As many times as I've done it and it never gets old. Since your question deals with night arrivals at a strange airport, I’m going to assume that you’re also doing some night VFR x/c as well.



Night flying is great, but it can also be very demanding. Lose visual reference to the ground and you could get yourself seriously killed – remember the JFK Jr thing a couple of years back? I also lost a friend that same way and he was a highly experienced ATP and a designated pilot examiner flying a Seneca.



I’ve done my share of night flying. I spent 3 years as a fixed wing Life Flight pilot flying MU-2s single pilot – most of it was “after hours”. We were based out of SLC so it was almost all in the boonies of Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Nevada. I’ll cut to the chase, the ONLY way that you can be absolutely sure that your not going to hit anything is to fly a published instrument approach to a runway that has either an ILS or some sort of visual approach path indicator. The problem is that not all airports have published approaches and not all runways have glideslopes or VASIs. Also, make sure that your airport is in a well lit area – street lights, city lights, moon, stars, etc. Even experienced pilots can get in over their heads real quickly when they attempt an approach (or departure) into a “dark hole” airport. The combination of few or no ground lights together with an overcast sky that hides the stars and moon and obscures the horizon is deadly – especially for “VFR only” guys.



Hey, we’ve all been there. In the exuberance of youth and with the desire and drive to build up our flying credentials many of us are willing to do just about anything to get our hands on an airplane. There was a time when I wouldn't have given much thought to operating properly equipped and maintained single-engine or multiengine light airplane almost anywhere, anytime day or night. That however, was a long time ago. I now have a much better understanding of just what can go wrong and realize that there are just some operations that are better off not being attempted.

There is an old aviation saying that I think pertains to the situation…

“A superior pilot is one who uses his superior judgment to avoid situations requiring the use of his superior skills.”

My personal opinion of night VFR is that it's probably OK to stay local, assuming a well maintained airplane and you're not foolish enough to fly when or where there is a possibility of losing the horizon. In other words, no VFR night X/C unless you are ready, willing and able to go IFR. Night single-engine X/C is not a smart move, nor is single-engine IFR (Day) unless you have a VFR ceiling underneath you the entire trip. Just my personal opinions, nothing more.



I’ve got it easy now. The FMSes in our airplane have the capability of generating a “pseudo-glideslope” to airport and runway in the world. For us, now there is no such thing as a dark hole approach – if I could only have had one of those in the MU-2.



Ya’ll be careful out there ya hear.



Lead Sled

 

[Night_Flight]

I just wanted to say hi. I like the name of this forum!

-Night_Flight-

 

[Flying Colors]

Well if an airport you are going to does not have an ASOS then I would suggest try get weather info from a nearby field that does report wx.

One night flight back in my CFI days, we are on approach for runway 32 in SBY before the control tower there opened and noticed something weird. Runway 32 has a 2 bar VASI, you know red over white you are alright. Well the VASI appeared to us that it was flashing. As we got closer it dawn on us that a family of dear was walking across the approach end of the runway. Did a go-around and landed on a differnet runway.

 

[146guy]

If you don't want to hit any obstructions then there is no safer way to get to the runway that shooting the instrument approach.........assuming you are to that point in your training, and the airport has an approach. Otherwise thorough pre-flight planning of the arrival and familiarity of local obstacles is a must!


Fly safe!!

 

[CDVdriver]

I've done my share of not-so-clever things in the beginning of my CFI days.

Night XC with ceilings below 2500'
Crappy equipment with one lil' red dome light that barely let's you see any instrument.
Crappy nav equipment, one shaky VOR
Used to fly out of an airport with no fuel after 6pm so if on the previous training flight the CFI did not pay attention and refuel we had to go with min. fuel to an airport 30 mi away to get gas.
Did a lot of flights in and out of black hole airports.
Have gotten a lot wiser since.
My personal minimums for a night XC now:
-Cloudbase at least 3500' agl vis>10mi
-Full fuel
-Plenty of airports on the way
-Land marks to follow like interstates if we fly over unlandable terrain
-carry the school transceiver
-stay high on the vasi/papi till one of us has the runway surface in sight.
I even get nervous now if we go 2 red 2 white, I advocate "all white you're all right at night"
Since our airport is close to the shore line I'll let them head out over the water and let them do a turn,
more than half of the students lose it. There is no such thing as night vfr over water.
Most of the students are very impressed and scared by the experience which is excactly my point.

 

[Snakum]

I did a lot of night flying after I got my PPL, usually to small fields in the boonies. What I always did was fly any published approach (most had at least an NDB), and where an approach was lacking, I did a fly-by first. I always tried to ensure I had the closest weather and altimeter, that I had studied the chart closely for local obstructions (I'd draw out a little psuedo-plate with MSA), and I never flew without landing lights. Yes, I know we practice TOs and landings without lights, but that's not something I was comfortable with at unfamiliar airports.

I love night flying ... and hope to be doing a LOT of it again very soon.

Minh

 

[Tinstaafl]

Night VFR into 'black hole', no ground services, no approach lights, no nearby aerodrome etc etc is common in Australia. A night VFR rating is an add-on to the PPL or CPL. The usual method to descend from cruise to landing:


1. Oz rules: NVFR flight below LSALT is not permitted except within the circuit area (3 nm of the aerodrome but you don't *have* to go that far out to do this)

2. Study the topo. charts to find obstacles & determine LSALT (1000' above highest obstacle within 5nm + another 300' for constructed obstacles IF there's no man-made obstacles higher than this charted)

3. Fly overhead NOT BELOW LSALT to get wind & circuit direction (traffic pattern) from the windsock & establish the a/c in the pattern.

4. Descend in the pattern to be 1000' on one of the circuit legs. Ensuring you track over or just to the dead side of the centreline is beneficial since it helps constrain the airspace used.

5. Commence base turn and descent at the usual place ie 45 deg from the threshold at normal downwind spacing. Descend on base not below 500'. Generally turn onto final starts at 600' to achieve final at 500'. Whatever sight picture to the runway is seen at that point is the one to maintain to the landing. Doesn't matter if it's a sloping runway, narrow, wide, long or short - maintaining that perspective helps to avoid undershooting into the black hole. AT ANY TIME the threshold is occluded then go around & examine why.

6. Approaching/crossing the threshold maintian a controlled sink with a slow reduction of power until the mainwheels touch.


Take off will be the reverse ie climb in the circuit until LSALT then depart. Use upwind over/slightly offset from the centreline to help constrain any drift.