Night flying

ASpilot2be

Qbicle seat warmer
What is usually involved when you do night flying for you PPL? Also, how much time is required. If I remember correctly it is 3 hours.

When I return from Spring break I am gonna need to log my night flying before my license goes void. I just want to get an idea of what I need to refresh myself on before I go up.
 
Well to start maybe look in the FAR/AIM for night specific type things. Required equipment for night, currency regs etc. The AIM talks about nighttime illusions I think.

With your CFI you should cover those items above. Then go out for a preflight at night (good flashlight is your friend). One of the best things you can do is really situate yourself well in the cockpit. Set up your stuff just like you normally like it during the day, but take the time to do it well. At night just finding things can be difficult so organize yourself well.

As far as flying the plane goes, I'm sure you'll do some landings with and without a landing light. I would try to get an unusual attitude recovery or something similar in, depending on the outside conditions you may find yourself needing to rely on the flight instruments more than daytime to recover.

Well, these are some things off the top of my head. Night flying is really enjoyable, especially in the summer with the cool, less bumpy air. It's also pretty easy to spot traffic. On the down side finding an off field landing spot can be more tricky/

Enjoy.
 
Here's a question...do you have to take a night checkride? There's no night stuff required in the practical portion of a PPL checkride so I would assume not?
 
baronman hit it all.

i also really enjoy night flying... seems calmer and more peaceful sometimes.
 
Thanks guys.

Here's a question...do you have to take a night checkride? There's no night stuff required in the practical portion of a PPL checkride so I would assume not?
No, no checkride. I log the required number of hours, get the CFI to sign it and go to the FSDO. Then the FAA will send me a new license.:)
 
No night checkride required. In fact when I was still a student pilot, my CFI signed me off for solo night time flights both local and cross country.
 
Just another though... when it comes time to build hours for your commercial (if your going that direction) do a lot of it at night. I'm looking to apply to a part 135 operator and I'm finding that my FAR min for that type of job are low in the night department. So had I done more flights at night, I would not be spending money NOW trying to build up that time...
 
I am going for my commercial right now and ALL of my x-countries have been at night simply because of my schedule. I will say the night flying is a little hard but I feel so much more confident now that I have more experience in it. I would also recommend do your commercial at night.
 
Ahhhhhhh thats another valuable asset....winter flying. I did alot of that up north in Philadelphia. It was cool to see frost on the plane, frozen static sources, ect. Alot of people just read about that stuff but I was able to train in it which was priceless.
 
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