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 In flying, I have learned that carelessness and overconfidence are usually
far more dangerous than deliberately accepted risks. Wilbur Wright in a
letter to his father, September 1900
Night
Flying - General Sources
A excellent source of information on Night Flying is the Air
Safety Foundation's website. Click on "Safety HotSpot," go
to the bottom and select "Safety Hotspot Archive." The hotspot
on "Night" features an excellent VFR
Night Checkup that you can print out in kneeboard format and carry with you
when flying.
I highly
recommend that you read Into
the Night which is an excellent 16 page article that the FAA has on their
website. Print it out and keep it around for review from time to time
Approach
to Land - Beware Black Hole Airports
Black Hole airports
are those with few ground lights under the final approach to the airport.
Simulator studies have proven that a common illusion at night leads pilots to
fly lower than normal approaches and often crash short of the runway--even if
the pilot is aware of the illusion! Airports that might be considered
black hole airports in northern California include King City,
Half
Moon Bay, Harris Ranch, Pine Mountain Lake, Little River and Frazier Lake airports.
Excellent
articles on Black Hole Approaches can be found at
Descent
While returning to the S.F. Bay Area
General
Aviation pilots do most of their flying in the daytime. When I surveyed
pilots at safety seminars, only a small percentage of pilots indicated that more
than 5% of their total flying was at night. It's very hard to see
terrain at night, so it's important that you use IFR-like procedures, and
maintain a safe altitude over all terrain. If in doubt, stay at least 500
feet above the MEF figure (the large number in each quadrangle of your VFR
Sectional Charts) to assure terrain clearance. Also, if there are
common routes that you fly at night, fly them in the daytime to determine a
personal minimum safe altitude for flying the route at night. For many
S.F. Bay area pilots, this might be over some of the local passes such as the
Hayward and Sunol passes in the East bay, and the Altamont pass just west of the
Tracy & Stockton area. As the picture to the left shows, Sunol Pass
can often be blocked by clouds.
Try to
plan your flight to arrive back in the Bay area before darkness, particularly in
the winter months when days are short. If you're unable to get through any of
the passes, make a 180 degree turn early, and land at Livermore, Stockton or
other airports where it is still clear. Rent a car, call a friend to get
you, or stay overnight in a motel. Alternatively, you may be able to get
above the marine layer, cross the bay area, and then descend in open areas near
your destinations, if the local ATIS or FSS suggest that there are still cloud
openings near your destination airport. In any case, choose an alternative
that guarantees that you won't end up on a mountain ridge where you'll become
another statistic!
Or email
us
now.
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Attention Bay Area pilots: Max Trescott
recently completed an analysis of fatal accidents in the Bay Area for
the past ten years. The key results are that fatal accidents are twice
as likely to occur at night as compared to the rest of the U.S. Also,
VFR into IMC accidents are up to 6 times more likely than in the rest of
the U.S. Register at faasafety.gov
to receive email notification of the next seminar detailing Bay area
accident analysis.
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