Is it just me. I am scared shitless to fly at night over the High Sierra or the Rocky Mountains. Or even the mountains that surround me. What do you guys think about that?

Tim

Nope! Not in a single engine if I dont have to. If its a must climb real high and follow a road.

Would I walk into a black bar in Boston and say "I am from LA and the Celtics suck" Not unless I had to.

Tim

qmdv wrote:Is it just me. I am scared shitless to fly at night over the High Sierra or the Rocky Mountains. Or even the mountains that surround me. What do you guys think about that?

Tim

You puss

I used to do a lot of night & night under the hood until I lost oil pressure over a dry lake bed during the day in my last plane a 170. Night over mountains is risky, I'll fly over the desert to Las Vegas, Pheonix or up the Owens at night but crossing high mountains and continuous terrain you really have to have a good reason.

I will be looking forward to seeing the vote count. After a lifetime of fixing things.... it is apparent to me that mechanical stuff just breaks. Everything, eventually.
I want to glide down, pick my spot... and be home with my family within a resonable amount of time... when the old engine packs it in. Not likely to turn out well at night.
39 years of flying... and the old log book only has 100 hours at night. Pure chicken.

Nope, not for this little black duck

For myself I find it risky enough to fly at night over the flats with a single engine. Flying over the mountains at night is out of the question for me.

Night time is for drinking & copulating, resume flying the next morning after a good cup of coffee

Vick wrote:Night time is for drinking & copulating, resume flying the next morning after a good cup of coffee

No night missions Above the covers

Glidergeek wrote:

Vick wrote:Night time is for drinking & copulating, resume flying the next morning after a good cup of coffee

No night missions Above the covers

Single-engine at night with an ejection seat is a completely different proposition, still not a lot of fun though. NVGs help considerably.

Well, I fly a lot of places that in the day would not be much better if Charlie let me down at the wrong moment. At least at night you can't see what's coming

Earlier this summer I flew VFR out and back in to Henderson Executive (Vegas) from the south on a moonless night. Reminded me of my night rescue boat missions on Powell

qmdv wrote:Would I walk into a black bar in Boston and say "I am from LA and the Celtics suck" Not unless I had to.

Tim

Tim's List of Biggest Fears:

1. Night flying over mountains
2. Black bars*
3. Basketball rivalries
4. Gay sailors
5. Cross threaded fuel caps
6. Curving sections of I-80
7. Rock chucks

Hmmmm, you guys would NOT like flying for a living north of the Arctic Circle.... Lots of winter months with 150-200 hours a month logged, 50 to 100 of those hours logged as night. Each month. Single engine.

But in all reality... Some CFIT's here and there, but I can't recall a single person hurt during my time up there, as the result of an engine failure and forced landing at night.

I love night flight, and will continue to do it (until it catches me!!!)

Gump

In years past ,when I was getting paid for flying I flew nights in Helicopters (military ) and single/multi engine nights (135 small package @ bank notes) .When I'm not getting paid for it -Local to keep current but otherwise no.

Zane wrote:7. Rock chucks

Are those like woodchucks but meaner?

I did a night flight through Lake Clark pass once in the late fall before the snow was on the mountains. Scared the crap out of me (was a fresh 60 hr pilot). I have done it a few times in the winter and its not bad if you have a little moon light or stay close enough so your strobes light up the snow on the mountains. Given the choice I would not do it just on a whim, but under the right conditions its actually very beautiful on a full moon night winging through a nice mountain pass. You need to add a few more options to the pole

Tim, can you add a couple of answers to your poll??

3. Yes! Because I fly a Cirrus with a parachute

4. Yes! Because I fly a Cessna 185 with a Big Pponk 550, STOL kit, big fat tires, O2 system, fly at FL16,500 FT MSL, full IFR equipped and I have extensive back-country flight training and experience. (or something like that ) (and By the way...... I mean no offense to my 185 friends! I was thinking about that cartoon video about that 185 pilot flying into JC)

It's pretty enough on a moonlit night over the flatlands if I were to ever forgo cocktail hour. I've flown at night over mountains bringing my plane home but I have never planned to go out at night just for fun (after I got my PPL). It is beautiful but so many things have broken on my plane (new) that I try very very hard to minimize risks.

Zane wrote:

qmdv wrote:Would I walk into a black bar in Boston and say "I am from LA and the Celtics suck" Not unless I had to.

Tim

Tim's List of Biggest Fears:

1. Night flying over mountains
2. Black bars*
3. Basketball rivalries
4. Gay sailors
5. Cross threaded fuel caps
6. Curving sections of I-80
7. Rock chucks

You forgot....Spelling Bee

Hell with night flying, day flying over the mountains scares the $#!T out of me.

Heck, night flying might even be better. At least I won't see what I'm about to hit when the fan stop spinning.