First Night X-Country Flight

moegreen

moegreen

New Member
I start my first night x-country tommorow night and I am totally excited about it...:panic:..My cfi told me to bring my other half for the ride which should be fun but I am a little apprehensive beings it will be my first night flight and flying over the Del river into Georgetown from Jersey to boot... I know everything will look different but any pointers anyone has I would love to hear them...

Thanks
 
moegreen said:
I start my first night x-country tommorow night and I am totally excited about it...:panic:..My cfi told me to bring my other half for the ride which should be fun but I am a little apprehensive beings it will be my first night flight and flying over the Del river into Georgetown from Jersey to boot... I know everything will look different but any pointers anyone has I would love to hear them...

Thanks
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Don't worry about screwing up, just enjoy how beautiful the night is. It is really something special once you fly at night.
 
CN94559 said:
:yeahthat:

after my first night flight, if I had the choice, I'd choose all night flights.
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Yeah. Agreed. A good chunk of my PPL instruction was at TKI at night.

Dallas at night is nice to fly over. Usually, on a clear night, you can see the airport beacon of your destination some 50 mi away. Kinda defeats the purpose of night nav - just fly toward the beacon. :)
 
killbilly said:
Yeah. Agreed. A good chunk of my PPL instruction was at TKI at night.

Dallas at night is nice to fly over. Usually, on a clear night, you can see the airport beacon of your destination some 50 mi away. Kinda defeats the purpose of night nav - just fly toward the beacon. :)
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Word. When I came back from KLIT last weekend, the return trip was almost all night and it was way cool. AUS was lit up and well, it just rules. Oh yeah, it's MUCH easier to see the traffic too!

One thing...the airports will look much closer to you at night than during the day...well at least seems that way to me.

OK...just one more thing: I would be cautious about is leaving "around dusk". This is a very busy time for birds. I do what we do in the AF...avoid takeoffs and landings within 1 hour of sunrise and sunset. This of course is just my .02! :)
 
killbilly said:
Yeah. Agreed. A good chunk of my PPL instruction was at TKI at night.

Dallas at night is nice to fly over. Usually, on a clear night, you can see the airport beacon of your destination some 50 mi away. Kinda defeats the purpose of night nav - just fly toward the beacon. :)
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yea its really nice, and for once in Texas... smooth. :laff:

GalaxyIFE said:
Word. When I came back from KLIT last weekend, the return trip was almost all night and it was way cool. AUS was lit up and well, it just rules. Oh yeah, it's MUCH easier to see the traffic too!

One thing...the airports will look much closer to you at night than during the day...well at least seems that way to me.

OK...just one more thing: I would be cautious about is leaving "around dusk". This is a very busy time for birds. I do what we do in the AF...avoid takeoffs and landings within 1 hour of sunrise and sunset. This of course is just my .02! :)
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yea around here (KTKI) its not so bad, but there are a few areas where its pretty bad
 
SFCC/UND said:
I love night time flights, but sucks that you can't see much.
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Night flying is beautiful but can also be more challenging. A good GPS definately helps for situational awareness on a dark night (even a handheld) and it also shows the specific Class B, Class C or d airports airspace in case you are unfamiliar with them. Also if its a smaller city then its really easy to see and follow the beacon but at bigger cities (for example las Vegas) you have to look for the darker areas because the city lights are brighter than the runway lights. Also its critical to remember that white lights are good to land on and blue lights are bad!:p
 
GalaxyIFE said:
OK...just one more thing: I would be cautious about is leaving "around dusk". This is a very busy time for birds. I do what we do in the AF...avoid takeoffs and landings within 1 hour of sunrise and sunset. This of course is just my .02! :)
Click to expand...

And try to avoid flying west at sunset. Got a late start one flight and ended up staring directly into the sun for the whole flight out. Very unnerving when control calls traffic 12 o'clock, 2 miles, 5000 opposite direction, its a regional jet and I am at 4500. I didnt see it until they came out of the sun almost directly over me.

But that taught me that using the proper cruise altitude and maintaining that altitude is essential, especially in busy airspace.
 
Pick good waypoints and enjoy yourself.

It's a little quiet up there at night, other than that I absolutely love it.
 
Flying under a full moon with some clouds is an awesome sight. Out here you never realize how big Phoenix area is until you fly at night.
 
Sorry guy's no GPS in this bird, just reading the instruments, not that lucky to have any at our school yet but they are coming, so learning the old fashioned way which is cool...........
 
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