Yesterday, I had my 5th flying lesson and my instructor decided to show me what night flying was like - he chose a night flight out of necessity as the weather hadn’t been great that week,but there was some decent weather around 5pm local time (about evening civil twilight).
There were overcast clouds at around 3400, and some scattered clouds down to 1200. I took off, and as many new student pilots experience, had a bit of disorientation at first with the blackness of the sky. I quickly got a grip though and we headed out to our practice area.
We did end up running into some of those low scattered clouds, at which point I gave him control of the aircraft so he could get us to a high visibility airspace.
Overall, I had a blast and definitely see why so many people like night flying. All we did when we were up there was straight and level flight, holding altitude, and pointing out some navigational aids outside the cockpit. I thought it would be much easier to see the airport from up there but I was surprised that it took me while to point it out, with so many other lights around and the low scattered clouds.
A pilot friend of mine pointed out after I told her about the lesson that her personal opinion is that night flights should be considered IFR, but mostly based on the experiences she has had. I know in places outside the US, night flying is not part of the PPL training.
What was your first night flight like? Do you think is should be a part of PPL training? Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts.
My first night flight was almost 30 years ago but remember it well. Took off in a C-152 with my instructor at dusk and it was a beautiful clear evening. 3 hours of night flying was required back then…not sure it still is?? We decided to do it all in one flight with the 10 takeoffs/landings and a short x-country flight. I remember how cool it was to see the lit-up ski resort that was 60 miles away! Like you, I also recall how difficult it was to see airports at night! You have to look for the dark area in the sea of city lights! I agree, I think you have to be very proficient on instruments if you are night flying. I did a lot of it back then and there were some very disorienting times where I had to rely on instruments. Lights in the distance can give the impression of a false horizon that makes it look like you are in a shallow bank and over water can look like a black hole. I never did much night flying by myself before I had my instrument rating and probably would not recommend it to new private pilots.
One of my pet peeves with the sim is how bright the airport rotating beacons and approach lights are. Way too easy to find! But that has been the subject of other posts so I wont belabor the point.
The saying about something being as different as “night and day” really applies in aviation. It can be really disorienting and I agree with everything Flic1McFly wrote. When everything is going well, weather is good and you have time to just sightsee mid-flight, however, night flying is almost hypnotic.
Enjoy your lessons. Caveat: with regard to the clouds you mentioned on your flight, I’d consider that more an example of what not to do / or what to do if encountered unexpectedly on a VFR night flight
Wow! Congratulations and thank you for letting us know. That’s an interesting question about night flying should be IFR only. I’m only a sim pilot, but, except for VORs which do not require seeing them, how many of the topographic elements (rivers, coastlines, airports, etc.) on a VFR map) can be seen at night? Not too many, I would think. Again, congrats! Thanks. --Redeye
Congrats on your first night flight!
I remember my first vividly. My local flying hole is in a fairly populated, but also very rural surrounding area…with lots of lakes. Large areas of forest are impossible to distinguish from water when there aren’t many lights.
Other than that I really enjoy night flying!
Not my first, but most memorable night flight was the flight back from from a friends 4th of July party! There was so much smoke in the cockpit, the heli smelled like fireworks for at least a week after I got back to the hangar.
Not sure if it’s still true, but here in Canada when I got my PPL years ago. you had to do a couple of dual rides with and instructor to get your PPL annotated for night flying.
It depends on moonlight, cloud cover, flight visibility, and other light pollution. On a mooonless and/or cloudy night, away from a city, you can’t see much of anything except where there are cars, buildings, lighted towers, and street lamps.
If the moon is out (or to a lesser extent, the stars), you can see quite a bit, especially if it’s full. Dark, unlit areas like lakes or forests are still hard to distinguish from one another, but you can see the contrast. If the moon angle is right, it will reflect off water.
If you’re near a city, you can definitely see features like rivers, roads, and the city outline (the yellow parts on a sectional chart). Airport beacons are easy to see when away from city lights, but those and other airport lights are harder to see when surrounded by other lights. You almost have to look for the dark spot to find airports embedded in urban areas.
What gets really difficult is judging your glidepath when you have a runway surrounded by a “black hole.” You also have to deal with blind spots and autokinesis. But the biggest killer is when the horizon is undefined - especially over large bodies of water. Throw in a little haze and it quickly gets disorienting. It really does take IFR training to appreciate and overcome some of the illusions night throws at you.
@Jummivana Well Jane, congrats! I am sure you had a blast.
During my mandatory army service in Israel, I was not a pilot but rather served as a tactical airborne communications operator. We used to fly mission-equipped King Air B200 with a small team of operators, an officer and two pilots (Thats why I love turboprops and really want them to be represented well in MSFS, including proper engine management, realistic ITT values, proper beta range and so on).
Once, we had a drill in the late in the evening, we flew into an on open sea (the Mediterranean, to the west of the coast of Israel) . After doing some rounds, holding patterns and practicing whatever we were supposed to do there at FL270, the pilots turned back, started to descend and then decided to prank us by telling us that they are lost and don’t know where to go. It was a perfect clear night with great visibility and no cloud coverage. When we looked out of the window, we saw the lights of Caesarea and a very prominent and recognizable visual reference - high chimneys of the old Hadera powerplant. So we were quite bewildered to think that the pilots could not recognize this feature and started to get nervous. Fortunately, after a minute or so they calmed us and said that they were only trying to see our reactions. It was a memorable experience. We landed safely in Tel Aviv, and after this I realized how amazing it must feel to pilot an aircraft at night using VFR, especially with good visibility and no clouds
Night flying is some of the most fun flying you can do. My favorite flight I’ve ever done was my PPL night cross-country. It was ICE cold, in January. Clear as a bell. Smoothest flight I’ve ever been on, and with the bright moon and snow, the views were amazing. It is something you have to be careful doing, however. A lot of VFR night flights are really IFR flights.
Thanks everyone! Reflecting on that flight weeks later, it was maybe my favorite lesson so far, despite some of the fear I had during it!
Still the case! “3 hours of night flight training in a single engine airplane”.
It definitely felt that way! I caught myself a few times just staring at the small city below me.
I am very glad that the bay I flew around in had tons of inlets and bridges so I never had an undefined horizon - but when we did hit some haze …that was a different feeling for sure! Props to all IFR fliers.
I would punch them afterwards for pulling such a prank, hah! No way.
I did my night rating almost 50 years ago (!) in South Africa. At that time I only had around 60 hours total time. To get a night rating in those years, you HAD to do 5 hours of basic instrument flying (level flight, turns, climbs, descents etc.: no approaches or nav aid intercepts), which I thought was a very good thing. I cannot recall if that was legal or club requirement but I think it was a legal one. There are definitely times that VFR night takeoffs can get you into IMC because of the darkness and a lack of horison and visual cues generally
