Dark Night Departures

[Hank]

I've read about these, and wondered why they are so difficult and threatening.

Tonight I found out.

It was time to renew my night currency here at my new base, where I have departed on 31 after dark, and landed both ways at night, too. Tonight I departed and landed on 31, and rolled to the end and turned around for my second one on 13. Rolling out 5000' is considerably different than rolling out 3000'!

Gave her throttle and rudder and rotated, everything fine. As the runway disappeared below the cowl, the low haze obscured the horizon and it was suddenly very, very dark. She climbed well, but airspeed control was not there like on the first departure. Turned crosswind and headed for AUO just for a little variety, and the lights of civilization cleared everything right up. Sure made me glad I was not a low time VFR pilot (although "low time" for me is certainly debatable! :-) ) My first ever night landing here was on 13, but taking off with a little summer haze was a whole different matter. I was surprised.

[carqwik]

Put yourself in JFK Jr's plane over the ocean, at night, with zero horizon due to haze....

[cliffy]

Just try rwy 33 at KPGA on a moonless night. Once past the runway lights you are definitively total night IFR as there is no horizon at all. No houses, no roads, no lights, just black at 200' AGL for as far as you can see. Low time VFR pilots need not apply!

[BorealOne]

Any given Northern village after September and until the snow flies...dark, surrounded by hundreds of km of dark in all directions. Add some aurora borealis and it's downright mystical.

 

Things improve dramatically once there's a thick blanket of snow on the ground - it'll reflect any amount of moonlight, and on a bright enough moon, you don't even need lights to read by...

[N9660M]

Participated in a Civil Air Patrol pilot clinic earlier this year where the focus was night flying.  The accident rate for takeoff/landings is about 11x higher on "dark" nights vice "bright" nights (don't recall what level of illum was used to distinguish between dark and bright) and the fatality rate is nearly twice as high.  If I remember correctly, the source was "The Pilot's Night Flying Handbook" by Buckwalter.

 

A good point was made about personal minimums.  We establish them in many areas of our flying, but maybe should consider them more at night.  For example, if the illumination is below XX%, don't conduct a night flight or go IFR.

 

Take care - Jim

[Glenn]

Put yourself in JFK Jr's plane over the ocean, at night, with zero horizon due to haze....

Then imagine that you bending down to change tanks 1 hour after take-off and just prior to descending.

[Piloto]

In many countries including Latin America VFR flight at night is not permitted. On many of these remote territories there is not enough ground lights for orientation. Also in the Andes area fog forms after sunset. So besides darkness you have mountains, fog and no weather reports.

 

Check this: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_VFR

 

José

[Bob - S50]

All the more reason to be IFR proficient even if we don't have the ticket.  Good to practice flying under the hood now and then for basic aircraft control even if we don't fly instrument approaches.

 

Bob

[1964-M20E]

I generally avoid nights. I will not begin a long xctry flight after dark. I don't mind finishing a flight after dark especially if I've been there before. Just me

[slowflyin]

Dark nights--false horizons--  all add up to an appreciation for  IFR proficiency.  

[John Pleisse]

My entire flying career at night was spent in the DC metro.....lit up like a Chrsitmas tree. My first XC night was out of Fayetteville for a quick jaunt over to Myrtle Beach, about two months after I earned my instrument rating (5SM BR). I was stunned. On instruments immediately. About two sec's after I got a handle on things, ATC called out two A-10's in formation coming right at me. They passed off my wing about a quarter mile. Didn't see many lights or horizon until I started nearing the coast. I had the wrong training and understanding of night ops flying around DC. I thought most of the false horizon, ground clutter mixing with stars schooling was for people in remote areas.

[jlunseth]

I have about 150 hours of night flight, I don't mind it.  The only time the "black horizon" stuck with me was during an approach to Ft. Pierce, FL after dark.  The approach took us out over the ocean and there was a period of about ten minutes when there was absolutely nothing, no lights, moonshine, horizon, it felt like science fiction. 

[David Mazer]

When I came back to flying, one of the instruction flights was a night cross country trip.  Of course.  One of the takeoffs was from a small airport in FL towards the middle of the state.  The night was absolutely clear and absolutely black! No visual reference at all as soon as we rotated and got to 50 ft.  I was shocked and grateful for my instrument training since it was essentially zero/zero.  I'd say it was an eye opener but opening my eyes was useless.

[Piloto]

It is more probable to get icing at night. I check with a flashlight the wings and the windshield. Turning on the landing light helps you in assessing if you are in the clouds. One of the most spectacular sights at night is flying through snow with your landing light on. It makes you feel that you are at warp drive.

 

José

[filmsense]

For practice it's good to do a few circuits starting just before dark until it's pitch black. Thus getting used to the dying lights.

[FloridaMan]

Also, I've found that one hour before sunrise and one hour after sunset, just as the last and first bits of sunlight start to show up that you are are in IMC even if the skies are clear. The slight amount of light from the last remaining sun is just enough to keep your eyes from adjusting and you won't be able to see shit in front of you. This is especially true when the sun is behind you. 

[rockydoc]

Recently left Denver on a moonless night at 3:00 AM.  Flew 2.5 hours South into barren country of NM.  Our radio lights started flickering and then all electrical power went out.  After trouble shooting determined that there was nothing we could do about it so we started looking for emergency airfields on our iPads.  Not a problem.  KLVS was close by.  But, it has no runway lights and i had no power for landing lights.  It was the DARKEST of the DARKEST nights.  We circled the airport numerous times, lower and lower trying to distinguish the runway from the farm roads (?with telephone poles?) from the runway.  Exercising maximum caution, we finally set the old bird down on the runway without incident.    Certainly got our pulse rates up there for a few minutes.  But cool head on part of the PIC kept the situation containable with favorable outcome.  i.e.  we walked away!

[WardHolbrook]

I had an ATP / DPE friend who died while making a "dark hole" departure in a Seneca II - he ended up putting himself at the bottom of the classic "smoking hole in the ground". They look very innocent, but you really have to be on your A Game when you're making night arrivals or departures. JFK Jr wasn't the first, nor will he be the last guy to die in one of these types of scenarios. You guys who have flight directors, those V-Bars are your friend on takeoff and climbout. When it comes to night arrivals, fly a glideslope whenever possible - PAPI / VASI / ILS / VNAV / WAAS, it doesn't matter, use whichever tool(s) you have at your disposal - every time. 

[ArtVandelay]

Recently left Denver on a moonless night at 3:00 AM.  Flew 2.5 hours South into barren country of NM.  Our radio lights started flickering and then all electrical power went out.  After trouble shooting determined that there was nothing we could do about it so we started looking for emergency airfields on our iPads.  Not a problem.  KLVS was close by.  But, it has no runway lights and i had no power for landing lights.  It was the DARKEST of the DARKEST nights. 

I'm glad it worked out for you, but jeez, I think I would have gone to ABQ. Do you carry a handheld radio now?

[Marauder]

You guys who have flight directors, those V-Bars are your friend on takeoff and climbout. When it comes to night arrivals, fly a glideslope whenever possible - PAPI / VASI / ILS / VNAV / WAAS, it doesn't matter, use whichever tool(s) you have at your disposal - every time.

Absolutely agree! Love the flight director I installed.

[Piloto]

One problem that you face when loosing panel lights at night is how to hold the flashlight on the instruments. I sticked Velcro strips underneath the glare shield in front of the instruments and on around a 3" LED flashlight. Use the carpet texture velcro on the glare shield and the rough one on the flashlight. This way you can stick the flashlight on the side carpet/panel when working underneath the panel, very handy.

 

When I fly at night at temps 40F or lower I keep the pitot heat on. You can get sudden icing when going into clouds without seeing them. First time it happened to me the plane started shaking, the airspeed dropped and the overhead warning alarm came on. I though I was in a stall and pitched down slightly but no increase in air speed. The shaking was due to prop icing, the airspeed drop was due to pitot icing and the overhead alarm was actually the gear alarm that comes on when at low speed and gear up. I looked into the wing with the flashlight and turned on the landing light and confirmed icing on the plane. In less than a minute there was 1/2" ice build up in front of the leading edge. The M20J held up altitude very well but lost at least 10 knots. due to icing. I carried the ice for over an hour all the way to Olathe, KS. Unlike daytime at night there is no sunshine to melt the ice when out of the clouds. A lesson well learned.   

 

If you loose COM the cell phone is an option. Have the FSS and home airport number in memory. I used it once when the mic cord broke off the connector. It work out very well with KFXE.

 

José  

[Hank]

I use this as backup, sometimes as adjunct:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pspages/ashlight_standard.php?clickkey=10458

And I just learned about changing batteries periodically. Went too long, had to pitch it and get a new unit. Two AAAs will last a long time. Now that I've replaced my landing light with LED, I should not find myself taxiing while holding a flashlight out the storm window. (Brrrrr!!)

[WardHolbrook]

One problem that you face when loosing panel lights at night is how to hold the flashlight on the instruments. I sticked Velcro strips underneath the glare shield in front of the instruments and on around a 3" LED flashlight. Use the carpet texture velcro on the glare shield and the rough one on the flashlight. This way you can stick the flashlight on the side carpet/panel when working underneath the panel, very handy.

 

If you loose COM the cell phone is an option. Have the FSS and home airport number in memory. I used it once when the mic cord broke off the connector. It work out very well with KFXE.

 

José  

Some of those light sticks work well too and are a nice thing to keep in the flight bag along side your flashlights. Cells phones are very handy to have, but you should always have at least two ways to listen and talk on the radio - at least two separate microphones and at least two ways to listen. For most of us that's the aircraft hand mic and cabin speaker and a headset with a boom mic. I say this out of (bad) experience. I was flying into LAX during rush hour several years ago and my only microphone died during radar vectors to intercept the final approach course. Thank goodness for transponder idents and light gun signals.  (I bet I was the last guy to land at LAX using light guns.  )

[rockydoc]

I'm glad it worked out for you, but jeez, I think I would have gone to ABQ. Do you carry a handheld radio now?

Yes, we considered KABQ, but the decision was made after a few passes and with the aid of the iPad that the landing would be made safely--which it was.  Previously, I have had two electrical failures in different aircraft and tried to use the Sporty's top line Com/Nav portable.  Never could get reception good enough to establish communication with ATC even though I had the external antennae mounted on the windscreen.  Ever since, I haven't had one.  Do you have any recommendations that could solve that problem?

Rocky

[WardHolbrook]

Yes, we considered KABQ, but the decision was made after a few passes and with the aid of the iPad that the landing would be made safely--which it was.  Previously, I have had two electrical failures in different aircraft and tried to use the Sporty's top line Com/Nav portable.  Never could get reception good enough to establish communication with ATC even though I had the external antennae mounted on the windscreen.  Ever since, I haven't had one.  Do you have any recommendations that could solve that problem?

Rocky

I'm curious about your "external antenna mounted on the windscreen". Describe that setup - that is probably where the reception issue was. (It usually is.)  It costs a bit more, but we always used an existing airframe mounted external antenna and ran coax up to the cockpit and left it coiled in a chart pocket - out of the way until / unless it is needed. You'll never get much range out of a handheld's transmitter, one watt isn't a lot, but it works well enough in the terminal area.