Forced Landing in Colorado

[FlyDave]

Quote: 201Pilot

I still enjoy night flight, and do not mind launching at night, but that may be because I don't consider night flight any more dangerous than any other IFR flight in IMC.  Losing an engine at night is no scarier to me than doing so in IMC and having to descend in clouds with no certainty as to how close to the ground visibility will be restored (if it is restored at all).  At least in night flight, I can fly VFR/IFR (visual flight rule/I follow roads) as traffic on major highways can light the way to a possible landing zone if necessary.

[DaV8or]

Quote: FlyDave

I agree with Lew.

If you're willing to fly in the clouds, day or night, how can night VFR flight be more dangerous? At least you can see the headlights on the roads and populated areas. Also, when you file IFR you can easily get routed over mountanous terain or farther from lighted roads/areas than you would fly VFR.

I must be missing something so, can someone explain why filing and flying IFR at night is safer than night VFR? I think all or most would agree that night flying in actual IFR is about the most dangerous flying you going to do, right?

[skyking]

I dont see the difference between IFR VS VFR at night unless you have something you can see once you break out of the cover.

If everything below you is pitch black and there is nothing but trees and swamp for a hundred miles in any direction how would being IFR help? Even if i am going VFR with flight following i still have nothing for hundreds of miles.

I feel a lot more comfy when i know there is a road i can see or a field below me, and here in Northern Alberta there is nothing.

[140pilot]

I got my ticket 35 years ago and only fly VFR but I doubt that more than 30 % of my time is flown during the day. In the Mooney I doubt it was that much. I went from Suffolk va to Kerrville to see the Mooney plant years ago all night VFR and it was the best flight I ever had. I just flew my Cessna 140 from Suffolk Va ( KSFQ ) to Atlantic City ( KACY ) and return both times at night. I know there is an additional risk involved but all things have some amount of risk.

Here is my highly complex state of the art instrumentation.

 

 

[Earl]

I don't have a problem with anyone's decision to fly at night.  I simply choose not to from a risk management standpoint.  As for the night IFR v. VFR debate for me it is moot.  I file IFR for any cross country flight even in CAVU.  I like to spend the time in the system and I have learned and experienced a lot of things on IFR flights in VFR conditions, several of which I was glad I didn't have the extra workload of IMC.  My CFII encouraged me to do that and I have never regretted it.  And the few times I was being jerked around by ATC and in a hurry I just cancelled IFR.  As I said above, some of the most pleasant flights I have ever had were at night.

 

But the like the old saying I'd rather be on the ground wishing I were flyiing than in the air wishing I were on the ground, if I lost my engine at night I'd be wishing it was daylight regardless of whether I was in IMC or VFR.  Anyone who says they would prefer to lose an engine at night is fooling themselves.

[jlunseth]

Wow.  I am completely different from most of the posters.  I generally feel more comfortable flying at night than during the day, and I think the risk is less.  For one thing, there are alot fewer airplanes flying around in the sky, and virtually none in the typical VFR altitudes.  For another, all the airplanes that are out there, are lit up like a Christmas tree and much more visible then in a haze during the day.  The airborne obstacles that ATC can't see, and that sometimes take a pilot by surprise, such as ultralights and balloons, are not in the sky at night.  I always use Flight Following, and the controllers are not as busy and stressed out, so pay more attention to every plane on the screen.  And I just don't have trouble seeing stuff on the ground at night.  I would agree that an engine out emergency would be a lot harder to deal with, but avoid that by flying in the teens, on Flight Following, and with a GPS with that "Nearest" button.  Between the GPS and Flight Following, finding an airport would be easy.   Keeping situational awareness is easier also.  I flew a trip from Grand Forks to Minneapolis last fall, took awhile to climb to altitude and once I got there I saw a sizeable city all light up off the right wing.  I was puzzled, I though I was further from KGFK than that, and indeed I was.  Those lights were Fargo.  The lights behind and to the right were GFK.  The lights off the left wing were Little Falls, and the lights ahead and to the left were St. Cloud.  Off in the far distance, probably 150 miles away, was the mushroom cloud of lights from MSP.  I knew exactly where I was and it was not possible to get lost. 

Have also just not had trouble flying into clouds at night.  Clouded nights virtually always mean that there is some light, reflected light from the ground.  It is the cloudless nights that are pitch black.  Have flown several missions at night where it was necessary to descend and fly under a deck, or duck around a cloud.  But the cumulus clouds that make flying during the day such a hunt and peck proposition are usually gone.  Night time brings an end to the thermals that create them.  Which, of course, means it is alot smoother at night.

I will admit having trouble finding runways the first couple of times I flew at night as a student, but figured it out.  The trick is to look for the beacon and know where that is on the field, then everything else falls into place.

Even though I am now in my 60's, I still have good night vision and always have, maybe that is why I like night flying.  

No, of course you don't take off into zero-zero conditions at night except under instrument, or do anything else truly stupid.  But you shouldn't be doing anything stupid during the day either.  

Night is the best.  Course, now that I have said this stuff everyone else will be up there with me so it won't be as peaceful anymore.