New Experience - No horizon

killbilly

killbilly

Vocals, Lyrics, Triangle, Washboard, Kittens
Went out the other night to do some night XC work, since I hadn't done any in a while.

So it's around 1 a.m. and I'm approaching AQO...I turn the lights on at the airport from about 7 mi out, and get set up on a left downwind for 17. As I turn onto the downwind I realize I can't see a damn thing out the front.

Now, it's a clear night - no clouds below 12,000, and if I look up I can see stars...but no horizon to speak of - pointed in that direction, at that time of night, there simply weren't any lights for me to see. On final there's a couple houses, but they were totally dark at that hour.

My heartrate goes up a few beats...I know the surrounding terrain pretty well, so even though I can't see it, I know what's out there. I keep flying the airplane, and use the instruments and kinda feel it out, I bring it around on a long base-to-final (wasn't worried about squaring anything up) and have an uneventful landing. No big deal.

But for a few minutes, it was a little spooky realizing I had nothing but the AI, ASI and TC. I could see the runway out the window if I turned my head, but AQO's got pretty minimal lighting compared to, say, AUS. Nothing to see out the front.

I've got a little more respect for instrument-rated pilots now. I've done hoodwork before, and I do it pretty well. But this was NOTHING like that. Even when you're doing hoodwork, you've got relative shadows and stuff. This was totally different.

EDIT: I have a new gripe about the airplane. It's got a KLN94 with a moving map - and on the dimmest setting, it's still so damned bright that it just kills my night vision. Next time I know exactly where I'm going I'm just turning the damned thing off.
 
Just trust those instruments.

Those are my favorite conditions just because it feels like you're in a space ship instead of an airplane.
 
I had a similar experience on a trip over the Everglades - my wife held us up and we ended up leaving at dusk. Got over the 'glades and was like "whoa." It all worked out (I had IR training at that point), but I could see how it would cause problems.
 
killbilly said:
Went out the other night to do some night XC work, since I hadn't done any in a while.

So it's around 1 a.m. and I'm approaching AQO...I turn the lights on at the airport from about 7 mi out, and get set up on a left downwind for 17. As I turn onto the downwind I realize I can't see a damn thing out the front.

Now, it's a clear night - no clouds below 12,000, and if I look up I can see stars...but no horizon to speak of - pointed in that direction, at that time of night, there simply weren't any lights for me to see. On final there's a couple houses, but they were totally dark at that hour.

My heartrate goes up a few beats...I know the surrounding terrain pretty well, so even though I can't see it, I know what's out there. I keep flying the airplane, and use the instruments and kinda feel it out, I bring it around on a long base-to-final (wasn't worried about squaring anything up) and have an uneventful landing. No big deal.

But for a few minutes, it was a little spooky realizing I had nothing but the AI, ASI and TC. I could see the runway out the window if I turned my head, but AQO's got pretty minimal lighting compared to, say, AUS. Nothing to see out the front.

I've got a little more respect for instrument-rated pilots now. I've done hoodwork before, and I do it pretty well. But this was NOTHING like that. Even when you're doing hoodwork, you've got relative shadows and stuff. This was totally different.

EDIT: I have a new gripe about the airplane. It's got a KLN94 with a moving map - and on the dimmest setting, it's still so damned bright that it just kills my night vision. Next time I know exactly where I'm going I'm just turning the damned thing off.
Click to expand...


IMO almost all night flying, and all flying in low VFR conditions (e.g. 1000' OVC and less with 2miles or less) is instrument flying.
 
More reason to get that IR now that you've experienced the uneasyness of losing a horizon.

I remember my first experience of being in VMC but having to fly the plane solely by instruments. Lucky for me, it was only for a brief 45 seconds or so and I was with my instructor. I was doing my first night cross country and had only roughly 20 hrs and one experience under the hood. We were flying into Galveston Scholes landing on 13. As soon as we were off of the runway and climbing upwind we crossed the shoreline and went out over the gulf. lol, everything went black as the dark sky and dark ocean conformed into one empty abyss. I quickly went from looking outside to being glued to my instruments making sure I maintained proper attitute and airspeed. My instructor got a kick out of my intensity and I gained a new respect for IR pilots.

Honestly, if you do your training in a major city I think you can become a little complacent with night flying because you always have the lights underneath you to keep yourself oriented. Take a long trip out over the sparsley populated countryside or have an over water experience and you can quickly realize how you can lose a horizon and have to fly by instruments even though you're in VMC.
 
ppragman said:
IMO almost all night flying, and all flying in low VFR conditions (e.g. 1000' OVC and less with 2miles or less) is instrument flying.
Click to expand...

Yeeeeeeah....in those conditions, I don't go. Not yet. Not until I have an IR ticket and I'm more comfortable about that.

I don't know what happened to me, but I used to do almost ALL of my flying at night. Need to get back into that. Especially because it's been 104-105 during the day here.
 
That happened to me the first night I went back to nights. This was back in Nov. I hadn't flwon in years and was doing my BFR and wanted to take a couple night hops. So I go up with the instructor and I think we were flying into Flagler. On the downwind to base leg I turned, I glanced down at the instruments and looked up and was totally lost. Couldn't see anything but black. Scared the crap out of me. Since I had the instructor with me I just passed the controls off to him, no since in not making him work!
Never had that happen and haven't had it happen in the two flights at night since then.
I was the same way too KB, I did my whole instrument rating at night and love flying at night. About a quarter of my measly 200 hrs is at night so I didn't expect any problems but...
 
Interesting reads. On that night it happened to me it was definitely DARK, no moon illumination at all. I actually remember making the comment to my instructor that in the military, that night was what we called Low Light Level (LLL) conditions. I think they only occur for like one week out of the month but I don't remember what the requirements are. Even on NVG's in that environment your eyes can play tricks on you.
 
One thing that really surprised me was flying over Lake Michigan last week. Perfectly clear day and it was almost impossible to differentiate between the water and the sky at times. There was an F-15 crash near Oregon not too long ago where I think that was a contributing factor.
 
Reminds me of my first night flight. Returning to AEG and turning base to final for 22 I had the same experience. Add to that the fact that a recent crash of a Meridian near the same location and the hairs on the back of my neck were definitely raised. :eek:
 
You got some good experience. My suggestion is to give yourself a solid briefing of what to expect, this at least to minimize surprises. Do not get behind the aircraft.

I've done more than a few black hole departures and approaches. My worst was single pilot on a departure into night IMC in mtn terrain. Even though I was very methodical in briefing my departure I still got spooked when circling above the aprt for alt before turning on course. You just can't be careful enough.
 
One night I had a flight in/out of Laredo, Tx. Man that was an eery feeling, cause everywhere else before in Tx has always been something lit up in VFR nightflite.
 
I fly between Tinian and Saipan in the Pacific at night all the time and even when it's clear you are watching your instruments the whole time. There are not many lights out here and on a moonless night you can't tell when you are over land or water. The best advice is trust your instruments and have a good scan going.
 
JordanD said:
One thing that really surprised me was flying over Lake Michigan last week. Perfectly clear day and it was almost impossible to differentiate between the water and the sky at times. There was an F-15 crash near Oregon not too long ago where I think that was a contributing factor.
Click to expand...

I've done that before on Lake Erie. Flying north over Burke Lakefront in Cleveland on a dark night we went from all the lights of the city in front of us and a well lit airport to absolutely no visual cues whatsoever, not even in our periphery, as we passed over the shoreline. First time that happens definitely invites one to become much closer with the seat cushion...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top