Tailwinds Flying Club Winter Safety Session – 2010 Night Flying

The Cessna Skylane left North Las Vegas Airport on a filed flight plan to Rosamond, California. The Flight departed just after 7 p.m. in night VFR. The aircraft hit Nevada’s Mount Potosi, elevation 8,500 feet, killing the two pilots. The last transmission from the aircraft indicated the Skylane was only at 7,000 feet msl. The two pilots were highly experienced Civil Air Patrol (CAP) pilots with more than 50,000 hours of flight experience between them. Any chair that moves faster than 15 knots should be treated with great respect.

Night Flying FAR Recent flight experience: Pilot in command. (b) General experience (1) Except as provided in paragraph (e) of this section, no person may act as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying passengers during the period beginning 1 hour after sunset and ending 1 hour before sunrise… What time today is officially sunset? How many days do you have before you are non-current for night flight? How many takeoffs and landing and when are required to be current ? Are you required to fly same aircraft category class and type?

Night Flying The weather this week had warm temperatures above freezing during the day and below freezing at night. What conditions might you expect at night under these conditions? Radiation Fog Surface Ice Low Level Icing How the weather look? Can’t say everything looks black outside the cockpit?

Night Flying You get behind on your flight plan and night falls before you reach your destination airport. You see the beacon but the runway lights won’t come on when you click on UNICOM frequency. What do you do? – Check radio is on correct frequency – Call FSS – Find another airport (how much fuel you got?) – Pray and hope the landing light is bright enough to see the runway What should you have done before leaving the airport of departure? – Called the airport manager/FBO before leaving – Check NOTAMs No time for NOTAMs?

Night Flying What equipment do you carry in your flight bag for night flight? Do you check the condition and batteries (if required) regularly? What good’s that flashlight if the batteries are dead?

Night Flying What do you do if you loose electric power? How about if the engine quits or there is a fire? What do you look for if you have to land out at night? Emergency Checklist

Night Flying How much do you add to the takeoff and landing minimums when landing at night? Consider adding to the POH distances a factor of 1.5 Airlines add 67 percent to flight manual distances POH charts are for factory new, tweaked to top performance, and flown by the manufacturer’s test pilot. Hard to see those 50 foot obstacles at night. What will a 10” tree trunk do to a wing or landing gear at 75 knots? Takeoff and Landing Minimums

Night Flying Do night flights frequently. Go up with a safety pilot or CFI if it has been a while since you last night flight. Be Safe, fly safe. Nothing like experience!

Thanks! Questions?