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Night Flying Tips From a Military Pilot

I gotta say, it still feels weird saying I am a military pilot, but I guess I need to better embrace what I am in a lot of aspects of life.

Anyways, after flying a couple of nights ago I thought it might be useful to mention some of the things I have learned about flying at night that may be useful to others who don’t do as much night flying.

One obvious difference between what we do in the Air Force and most, if not all, civilian flyers is that we use NVGs when we fly at night.  We do still practice approaches and landings at night without them, but if we are doing low levels or airdrops at night, we always wear them.

If you ever get the opportunity to try some NVGs I would recommend trying them out on the ground because it is cool, but DO NOT try to fly with them unless you have been properly trained.  There may be this idea that they make it almost like daytime, but that is not the case.  They do dramatically improve your ability to see at night, but they also completely change your depth perception and how your straight ahead vision interacts with your peripheral vision since one is using NVGs and the other is not.  Again, do not try and do anything with NVGs unless you have been trained.

So what are some things you can do to make flying at night more safe?

Physiologically, make sure you are well rested when flying at night.  It can be easy to have a normal day and then head out to the airport to get some night flying done, but be very cognizant of how you feel physically.  During the summer you may try to fly more in the evenings when it starts to cool down so you need to be honest with yourself about how tired you are.  Especially if you are going out after the sun has set because it sets so much later in the summer.

Here in Arkansas right now it doesn’t really get dark until after nine o’clock so to get some night time in you have to stay up much later than in the winter when the sun sets around 5-6.  If you typically stay up until midnight or later this may not be a big deal, but if you are an early to bed kind of person you need to be honest with yourself about how tired you are, and may want to consider an afternoon nap to give yourself a little more pep when the sun goes down.

It is also common to use some sort of stimulant like coffee or energy drinks to give you a little boost at night, but be careful with how much of that stuff you use.  Too much can make you jittery and effect your night vision, which is obviously pretty important.  There is also a chance of having that big drop off when the effects wear off, and you don’t need that late at night.

Next, it is really important to get to know the airport and area you will be flying in.  Even if it is an airport you use regularly, it will look different at night than it does during the day.  Having a clear picture in your mind of where you will be on the ground and what to look for in the air will help to alleviate some of the confusion that is inherent with flying at night.  This is especially true when you are flying as the sun is setting because you will start to get strange shadows that can mess with your head in terms of depth perception and things looking unfamiliar.

For that reason I recommend getting night practice on a regular basis so that you add to your mental picture of how things look in all different light conditions.  Three landings every 90 days is not enough to be safe flying at night.  Now if you just choose not to fly at night at all, that is your decision, but you do miss out on some amazing sights and peace that can only be experienced at night.  You also never know when you may need to fly at night and you don’t want to find yourself unprepared, and in turn, unsafe.

Part of getting to know your airport is learning the important altitudes around it.  Outside of pattern altitudes, a lot of other altitudes seem to be more related to instrument flying, but as you will learn, there is a lot of crossover from night flying and instrument flying that will keep you safe.

Understanding what the highest obstruction to flight around your airport is can be vital information.  There is so much peace of mind when you have an emergency of some sort in knowing that if you climb to a certain altitude you are safe from hitting anything while you diagnose the problem.  There could be buildings or towers or even a mountain near your airport that you don’t want to be worrying about while you are troubleshooting.

This also applies when flying at night away from your airport.  I recommend you stay as high as you feel safe at night, within reason, because it eliminates many of the risks of terrain and towers that can be lower.  Your depth perception at night is also not the same as during the day, so having that extra buffer is a huge blessing.  Looking at your route of flight on at least a sectional before you fly will help you to know what a safe altitude is.

This may seem like it is more important in mountainous areas where there are more obstructions, and that is a valid point, but I have seen 1000’+ towers in relatively flat terrain that will ruin your day just as fast as a mountain if you aren’t aware that they are there.  We always try to see and avoid whether day or night, but it is more challenging to do so at night, so understanding the hazards along your route will always keep you safer.

Even though we fly on NVGs in the military, we still prepare all of our charts with safe altitudes, factor obstacles that may still be dangerous if we are low to the ground, and study them as a crew to make sure we are safe.  If we have any kind of an emergency, or even just an unexpected situation that requires extra attention, we always climb to those safe altitudes so we can safely divert a little attention to whatever the problem may be.

In a similar vein it is also important to check the NOTAMs for your route of flight.  These can help you identify significant towers, and maybe more importantly towers that may be unlit.  These are not extremely common, but not being able to see a tower that you will be flying towards is incredibly unsafe.  They could go out for any number of reasons, and you want to know that before you go.  Also bear in mind with towers that they may have wires sticking out from the sides for support that you will never see at night, so just stay far away from them.

Tools like ForeFlight can also be invaluable at night, but do not just use them as a crutch.  Learn the proper skills and do the proper preparation which will allow you to operate safely. Those tools can be used on the ground for all of the things I mentioned.  Then you can have all of that information in one place and they will be the asset they can be instead of just a crutch or distraction.

Outside of all of the preparation I have mentioned, you need to fly at night regularly to stay proficient.  It’s not enough to go knock out your three takeoffs and landings and then have your friends jump in to go for a flight the same day.  You may technically be legal, but you are not proficient.  The only way to get good at night landings is to practice them regularly, just like landings during the day.

The sight picture is so much different, that only experience can really prepare you.  Your depth perception and peripheral vision are such important parts of flying, and they are dramatically affected by operating at night.  It’s also important to go to different airports if you have the option.  They all have unique lighting on the runways and surrounding areas that allow you to learn even more and expand that tool bag of knowledge that you build with each flight.

It may also be worth mentioning that one of the most common misconceptions about flying at night is that airports are really bright places, when in actuality they are generally the darkest patch of ground in an area because runway and taxiway lights are not very bright, and they don’t need to be.  So if you are having trouble finding an airport at night, look for the dark areas with straight lines of lights running through them.  If it is a smaller airport, pilot controlled lighting can also be a game changer with finding the airport.  That many lights turning on at the same time is pretty hard to miss.

Flying at night is such a fun and unique experience.  During the summer it is great because it is cooler and the air is generally a little smoother.  It gives you a unique view of the places that you see regularly, because everything looks different at night.  I find it to be more peaceful because not as many people fly at night.  I also really enjoy being at the airport late at night because they are unusually quiet.  There is something really calming about sitting in the darkness of an airport with only the runway and taxiway lights on.  It’s probably because there is often so much noise around an airport, but at night it is just peaceful when not many planes are around.

So get out there and fly at night.  Experience something different for a change.  If you aren’t proficient then take another pilot with you who may be more proficient, because flying with friends is almost always better anyway.  It really can be an underappreciated part of flying, but one that requires extra vigilance on your part to be able to enjoy it safely.

June 24, 2021 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

Flying at Night was an Eye Opening Experience

I finally was able to knock out that flight I passed on a few weeks back after a little vacation, and a whole bunch of crappy weather, and all I can say is that I am glad it is over.  I should clarify that any time spent flying is better than time spent in just about any other way, but I realized after this flight that flying a small, civilian aircraft at night is just not a whole lot of fun.

In leaving Stead and heading down to Reno it really wasn’t all that different at first because we were over city the entire time so most everything is lit up pretty well.  That being said, it is definitely a different sight picture at night than it is during the day.  I found myself flaring a little to high and having to hold it off much longer than I would have liked.  This was likely a combination of not having flown for a little while, and the different sight picture I was experiencing at night for the first time.

We proceeded to do three full stop taxi backs at Reno because for some reason the FAA wants all of your night stuff to be full stop landings.  I personally don’t understand the logic in this, so if you have any ideas I would love to hear them.  The one upside in this case was that it gave me more time talking to ground and switching radios, which is something you can never really practice enough.  On the C-130 I just type in numbers so it is good to get practice spinning dials.

After leaving Reno we headed East into the I-80 corridor as we very slowly climbed up to a good safe altitude.  This may very well have been the first time I have ever climbed up through the mountains at night without having NVGs like I wear at work.  To be honest it was pretty unnerving.  Despite knowing that I had planned well, and could see the freeway clearly below me and in front of me, it is not fun not being able to see the even the outline of the mountains around you.  It didn’t help that there was absolutely no moon either, but I wasn’t delaying this mission any longer just for some moonlight.

The half an hour or so it took us to get up to Lovelock (KLOL for those keeping track at home) was relatively uneventful, and once we got to altitude the terrain sloped away to the East and there wasn’t even mountains to worry about.  With nothing really between us and the airport, we were able to pick out the beacon pretty quickly, and a few clicks of the mic lit up the runway like a Christmas tree making it even easier to find a few miles south of any other buildings.

After a quick survey of the area we went in and executed three more full stop taxi backs, but fortunately the winds were mostly calm so we opted to just switch runways with each landing to save on the taxi time.  It was definitely a very different experience flying at such a small airport with no lights around it after flying at Reno that is surrounded in lights.  I also had the thought in the back of my mind that there is a lake off the end of one of the runways that made the whole thing a little more ominous.

After finishing up our landings there we began our trek back to Stead, and since we were running a little behind schedule, we utilized the wonder of ForeFlight to go back home more directly.  I have to say that it is just an incredible tool for anyone out there.  If I had a small plane I would not waste my money on a G1000 or other system, I would just buy an iPad and a ForeFlight subscription, because they honestly offer so much more at probably 5% of the price.  The situational awareness that it gives you is just insane.  I honestly wish the Air Force had just bought subscriptions to ForeFlight rather than wasting money on developing a different app.  If you don’t have it you seriously need to check it out.

By this time it was after 2300 local and after a full day of work I was getting pretty tired, but we still had four more landings to knock out.  It was definitely a little comforting coming back to my home airport after so long in the unfamiliar dark, and it got me a little excited again to finish the whole thing out.  Fortunately, the winds at Stead were also light and we were able to execute a few teardrops in the pattern rather than flying a full standard pattern.  It saved a little time which was okay by me and my CFI.  It was also a fun challenge to execute something other than a standard pattern and having to adjust in ways that you normally wouldn’t have to.  That being said, it is not something you should do if there are other aircraft in the area because it would quickly become a mess.

Flying at night in a small civilian plane definitely opened my eyes to the value of having NVGs with the flying I do at work.  The amount of situational awareness that they provide is just downright ridiculous.  On a well illuminated night it is almost as good as flying during the day.  I can’t even imagine doing anything close to what we do without NVGs.

This was also a good flight to help me remember that you have a whole massive skill set to learn as a pilot.  It isn’t enough to get good at landings during the day on a long and wide runway.  You have to land at night, and on shorter and more narrow fields.  You should try to get to soft fields and different surface types because all of those things are only going to help you build your bag of tools that one day may save your life.  From a less practical side, it is also fun to try new things and go new places.

When I was deployed to Afghanistan we took an F-16 pilot for a ride one day and it was the first time he had ever landed on dirt, especially dirt that was probably only 4000′ long or so.  For a guy that is used to pristine pavement that is at least 10,000′ long, it was an eye-opening experience.  He gained a whole new respect for what we do that day, and I guarantee he became a better pilot with that understanding.

So while trying new and different things is often not very comfortable, it is a great way to learn new things, have some fun, and become a better pilot.

April 19, 2018 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.