After dark

I was doing some night circuits at Longreach in central Queensland. The runway was well lit and the town lights were blazing.

After lift-off we spotted some specks of light in the distance but they were not really good enough to give us good horizon clues for a cross-country flight. It was onto the instruments for the climb-out and crosswind legs.

We were flying under the Night Visual Flight Rules (NVFR) in the circuit, but I am of the view that beyond the town and its lights one would have been conducting an IFR flight such were the conditions.

When the NVFR rating was devised there was never any statement as to how and when it should be used. The theory was that a pilot, after suitable training, would be able to use navaids and the visual clues from the lights of towns and highways to navigate across the night skies. Maybe it would be used to just get home a few minutes after dark or takeoff before first light.

There is a certain night flight component required for the IFR rating and some ag guys do lots of hours down low spraying under the NVFR rules. Instructors are required to hold the NVFR rating as part of their credentials. Some other pilots, private and commercial, aspire to hold the NVFR ticket as an extra rating.

It can be good to have some night experience so that in the event of coming back to base a few minutes after last light a pilot has knowledge of the issues of night flying. A lot of private pilots would like to hold a NVFR rating with the idea that it will give them the ability to fly by day or night whenever they wish. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Now it is one thing to be flying with a night experienced instructor next to you mentoring the flight. It can be a different thing to be flying solo on a dark night on a route that you have not flown before.

A lot of NVFR pilots get the rating and after perhaps one or two short flights never fly at night again. The rating requires some night flying to remain current and after a while, for some, it just becomes too much to bother with any more. Night flying also requires an aircraft that is suitable and available to fly at night, the weather has to be acceptable and the pilot fit for the task. If flying dual then the instructor has to be available.

If any one of those items is not available then the flight is a no-go.

It can be awfully lonely when it is pitch black out there and you are the only one aboard In planning a NVFR flight one should consider flying from aid to aid, from town to town by the best lit highway. Have more than adequate fuel, have a backup plan in the event of radio failure, electrical failure or encountering weather.

It can be awfully lonely when it is pitch black out there and you are the only one aboard.

Looking back at a few recent NVFR accidents there are several noteworthy points. Flying from day VFR into IFR. Making a NVFR flight that was in reality an IFR flight. Lack of night flying currency. Insufficient fuel. Descending into terrain after takeoff. The black hole effect. Having the vacuum pump fail over a remote area.

If one is involved in NVFR flying there are certain things to do to ensure that the flight runs smoothly. The pilot has to be rested and fit for the flight. Do plan the flight including checking the weather and have a plan B. Carry two torches and preflight them. While the standard after takeoff turn is at 500ft, 700ft is a better turn altitude. Altitude is your friend, the more you have the better.

Keep your hand on the throttle until at least 500ft. Some aircraft throttles have been known toslide back with age. No fun at low altitude to see critical gauges going backwards. Limit head movements. Abrupt or extreme head movements at night can create issues. Vertigo – trust the gauges, not your gut feeling. The leans come to mind. Know the last light time for the destination if you want to be on the ground before that time. Go onto the gauges at rotation. Have the aircraft properly trimmed out. Keep all pitch and bank angles low so that the machine flies for you, not against you. A mud map with larger than normal figures on it can be read easier in a dark cockpit. Portable GPS devices have their limitations.

Man was never designed to fly by day but he does. To fly at night is even more of a challenge but it is possible to do so, safely, too, if there is good planning and good proven practices are followed.