Landing Light

[jrh]

I'm not sure why'd you want to fly without a landing light - period.

I had one blow out with a student once while we were doing night T/O's and Landings, we had to stop because you couldn't judge your height very well. Almost got dangerous!

I teach all my students to land without a light for this exact reason...fly long enough at night, and sooner or later you're going to need to land without a light for some reason (breakers pop, lights been out, alternators fail, etc.). You just use your peripheral vision with the spacing of the runway lights to judge height. I've become very comfortable with it.

This skill is also very useful to have if you really want to make a trip at night and find the landing light burnt out. This exact situation happened to me while I was building time for the instrument rating. I wanted to fly a night XC with a buddy and we both thought a burnt out light was a lousy reason to cancel a perfectly good night of flying. Since we had done night landings without the light in our training, it was no big deal, and we decided to go anyway. Want to know the hardest part of that trip? Navigating the taxiways at Spokane International without a light. It turned in to me holding a Maglite (sp?) out the window while he taxied, and him doing the same for me while I taxied. Haha...good memories...

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

I teach all my students to land without a light for this exact reason...f

Me too. It usually "burns out" on short final. (A go-around is a perfectly acceptable response, but they'll still have to land without the light). Even if I go up alone just for currency, at least one of may landings will be without the landing light.

 

[flyguy]

I'm just having trouble with the logic that if an airplane is rented, it is for hire, as long as there is no instructor (who is getting paid) on board.

Who said that? If the airplane is for hire, it makes no difference who is on board.

Wheelsup did

I was under the impression that having the CFI on board meant that the plane wasn't for hire.

If it was rented sans CFI (ie solo or a private pilot in it flying around for fun) it was "for hire".

As for operating the aircraft, I agree with you, however, guess who's going to give out violations. I don't know the way it is in the rest of the country, but the OAK FSDO just loves busting pilots. If there is anything wrong and there is any way they can pin it on the PIC, they will. With that in mind, I'll jsut do what they say, and complain about them behind their back.:insane:

 

[wheelsup]

Wheelsup did

I did, and I know realize what I was thinking - it was the 100 hour stuff, not "for hire" stuff. Glad this post came up to jog my memory.

If it's rented out solo, no 100 hour is needed.

When a CFI jumps on board, the 100 hour is needed.

Is that correct?

 

[Bandit_Driver]

Back when I was instructing my school required the landing light to be working (however the rule was never enforced). We also taught students how to land with the lights off since the students hard landings were constantly blowing the lights.

 

[flyguy]

I did, and I know realize what I was thinking - it was the 100 hour stuff, not "for hire" stuff. Glad this post came up to jog my memory.

If it's rented out solo, no 100 hour is needed.

When a CFI jumps on board, the 100 hour is needed.

Is that correct?

Now that I could believe.

 

[meritflyer]

I did, and I know realize what I was thinking - it was the 100 hour stuff, not "for hire" stuff. Glad this post came up to jog my memory.

If it's rented out solo, no 100 hour is needed.

When a CFI jumps on board, the 100 hour is needed.

Is that correct?

Yes, 91.409(b) clearly says for flight instruction. In no part of the FARs does it address rentals as "for hire" or required inspections for rental aircraft.

 

[PanJet]

I agree with jrh and MidlifeFlyer. Practicing night landings without a landing light is a good thing. I've actually gotten quite comfortable without them. It doesn't phase me a bit to land at night without a landing light, and it's a good thing too because I've had to do it numerous times. I've also been with people who weren't used to it and freaked out, flared high, and almost landed off the side of the runway because they had never gotten used to it.

I have to say it's kinda fun doing night currency and notifying the tower you're going to do a lights out landing. It freaks them out usually. At least my local tower.