I just got back from a trip that finished with the last 2hr's of the flight - dark flying. The flight was from St. George to Carson City right over the middle of Nevada. No moon and darker than the inside of a cow.

One of the few times I can say that I had a real tough time relaxing when at the controls. Every sound that the engine makes or a slight change of pitch is intensified ten fold. Even though the temp are more consistent you still get the uppy downey thing that draws a huge amount of your concentration.

Anyone out there enjoy flying at night?

I love flying at night, but I try not to do it very often, at least until I strike it rich and can buy that twin engine NA OV-10.

When you think about it, the only real difference is in the event of an engine failure you won't get to pick a decent landing place...a pretty big difference, granted.

But if you thought the engine was going to fail, you wouldn't have taken off in the first place, would you? And a lot of the terrain we fly over in the west doesn't offer a decent landing spot regardless of whether you can see it, especially if you are in the habit of flying low.

I have occasion to fly down to San Luis Obispo now and then, and I'm always faced with a tough choice...I can fly to the Big Sur VOR and then follow the coast south, looking at pods of whales and marveling at some of the most spectacular scenery on the planet, or I can fly down the central valley, marveling at an endless amount of ugly flat land which even I could land on without an engine.

Even at my most optimistic I realize that a solid hour of my flight via the Big Sur VOR will leave me with absolutely zero chance of surviving a forced landing, much less ever being found. Same goes for crossing the Sierra's, or the Coast Range. Or flying over almost any mountains at night. Shit, now I've scared myself.

Maybe I could afford one of those push-pull Cessna's...

N18NV wrote:Anyone out there enjoy flying at night?

Personally... During my time flying in the Arctic, winter was always my favorite season, and flying at night was a big part of the reason.

Smooth, thick air. Northern Lights most every night. Twilights that would last forever. No "leans" from slogging around in whiteout conditions like in the daylight with willow and brush giving false horizons (though a snowmachine headlight or two can give you some weird optical illusions from a distance). IFR was actually easier, as was figuring out crab needed for crosswinds with nothing visual out there but a row of runway light to look at. After a few hours the engine stops running on auto-rough when it gets dark, and it becomes beautiful and enjoyable.

And, if something breaks, the engine-out landing checklist is simple:

1) Establish best glide speed.
2) About 50 ft AGL turn on the landing light.
3) If you don't like what you see. Turn the light off.

Gump

N18NV wrote:...darker than the inside of a cow.

LOL Never heard that one before.

From my former life, I have as much night flying as I do day. I live down south, and it's not as hot at night, generally it's smooth and the wind blows less. Did I mention it's cooler? Just be IFR rated and proficient, because it is a matter of time if you fly at night a lot.