Night Flights

[IFLYHI]

In the Tech Forum kb wrote:

for those "evening" landings

Now say hypothetical this other friend of mine were caught by the setting sun and he had to do a landing in darkness what advice would you guys give him.

We all know this of course completely wrong and he should plan properly

Also I don't imply any of the responsible pilots out there has done it on their MPL's, but maybe they have a friend who was caught in this predicament

[kb]

I suggest air-to-air refuelling and stay up till sunrise.

[Tailspin]

This is a very stupid thing to do and i would rather do a landing on a road somewhere but theoretically the best would be to Inform your buddies either by Cell or by some or other means, and then they should somehow get enough light onto the runway to be able to visually identify begining and ending and sides - assuming the pilot is flying into his/her home base. The pilot should also be upto date with all insurances life and other and should be proficient in most if not all religions as he / she is going to need them all.

Not that i have done this but hey anything is possible.

[Tailspin]

Hey wait - if you have a balistic chute now is the time to use it. Overhead what you think is the airfield and bend down and kiss your butt goodbye then pull that lever

[Fairy Flycatcher]

Your depth perseption and perifiral vision is badly affected by limited light. So ideally you don't want to do this in turbulent conditions, as it is difficult to find the runway and stay over it.

Microlight airfield also don't usually have landing lights, which is also interesting. If it is really dark, you have to try and use the outlines of buildings or hills to place you at about the right height at about the right place. So the kind of things you look for is no longer staring down the runway, judging a 20 degree angle for landing.

You will also need a bit more runway than normal, and the best way to do it with at trike is to fly a low approach, and keep power on, slowly settling the back wheels onto the runway before bringing the nose down.

You have to fly an extended, flattened roundout, so you don't whack the ground when you don't expect it. Many of your reflexes, even for landing, is programmed deep in your mind. If you have ever tried to climb a last step which wasn't there, you will know what I mean.

Force yourself to expect the touch down at any time, sooner or later.

[Tailspin]

Actually i have heared of this happening to somebody - the biggest problem i would say is fencing, if you catch a 6foot fence with your back wheels it would be something like a carrier landing, except with a major thwack at the end like hitting a brick wall the other problem would be unknowns on the runway - COWS ? ? anything to spoil your day. Never mind the landing @ an unknown field

[RV4ker (RIP)]

Use cell to sms help.

Never done in micro, but couple times have done night landings in Bliks with car lights & candles.

Candles in 2 litre coke bottles (secured with some sand) are great, but need to be preparred beforehand. We have 2 dozen or so on standby in hangar for emergencies. (We have landed a lear with these a couple times on mercy flights as well)

Car lights - 3 cars is ideal.
2 at threshold one on each side of runway with brake lights on - Brights down the runway showing sides.
1 with brake lights on at end of runway - no headlights.

Technique which works for me.... (in blik)
I fly with Taxi light on for oukes on ground to follow my progess, but with landing light off as you often tend to fly into the light and bend the U/C (Deer in the headlamps type scenario) I have seen trike at night (on groud) with lights on and it is very bright and does not help a huge amount to see where you going. I would turn them off:shock:

First pass (or as many as it takes to get comfy) I do inspection to get used to sensation, height, wind etc (very different - See FF's comments regarding depth etc) at safe altitude (50-100ft).

Second pass land deeper than normal (so you don't land on car roof) and slow as possible. In the bilks we set up for full flap almost hanging on the prop incase you get it wrong, you should be able to walk away from it and in most cases (unless very unlucky) use the aerie again.... as foward speed is slow as possible. (Assume trike would be similar)

PS
Why no night flying allowed in micro's (trike & 3 axis)? (excuse ignorance?)

[Wart]

jcvb, MPL is for VFR only!

By the way, have you been doing some night flying of your own to be up so late, or is it early? Do you ever get some sleep?

[Fairy Flycatcher]

jcvb, MPL is for VFR only!

By the way, have you been doing some night flying of your own to be up so late, or is it early? Do you ever get some sleep?

It is possible to fly night VFR

SA-CAR Part 94 (Operation of non-type certified aircraft) Subpart 5: Rules of the Air, gives the conditions for flight to be:

94.05.1 Except when stated otherwise on the Authority to Fly, a no-type certificated aircraft may not be flown -

a) by Night
b)

Great, this at least leaves us with the possiblity that the Authority to Fly can allow it

But then you go to Part 62:

62.03.5 (1) The holder of a recreational pilot licence shall be entitled to act as pilot-in-command of a non-type certificated aircraft for which he or she holds the appropriate valid category, class or type rating and which is not engaged in the provision of an air service, but not for reward or remuneration –

(a) under VMC;
(b) by day; and
(c) in accordance with the provisions of Part 94.

So basically, you can get Authority to Fly for the microlight to fly at night, but not for the pilot, and with the new law, you may not fly a microlight on your PPL, so a long story... you may not do it.


Just a tip though if you do. Full moon flying great, but try to fly only one at a time. It is virtually impossible to see the lower aircraft, so the stress is not worth it

[Redeye]

The other thing you can do is fly to the nearest country runway with lights
if you have enough gas

eg rustenberg,brits ,Krugersdorp ,vereeniging etc etc- At most of these fields 5 clicks on the radio will turn the runway lights on- Check the airfield guide book for this feature- landing a micro on a normal runway with lights is very easy-- Follow the Papis if you see more than two reds you are too low