Instrument Flying

Night Flying
Flying VFR at night is inherently more risky than A student’s night flying ability will not be assessed
flying VFR during the day. These risks and threats by an examiner, so it is important that the
can, and must, be managed carefully with good instructor uses the night flying instructional time
preparation and instrument flight currency. to ensure the student is aware of the issues and
is competent at night flying.

Objective Considerations
To operate the aircraft safely Night is defined as the time between the end of
evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning
both on the ground and in the civil twilight. These times are published in AIP
air at night. New Zealand GEN 2.7 Daylight Tables, and are
dependent on location and the time of year.
Legal: Aerodrome and aircraft lighting
requirements, VFR night minimas for controlled
(1500’/5km) and uncontrolled (1500’/8km).

Prerequisites
Students must have completed at least two
hours instrument flight time, which includes the
following instrument flight manoeuvres, before
they can undertake night flight training:
• Straight and level flight: maintain heading to a
required accuracy of ± 5 degrees, ± 100 feet
altitude and in balance.
• Medium & Rate One turns: at least
180 degrees turns left and right, in balance,
to within ± 10 degrees of pre-selected roll-out
heading with a maximum altitude variation of
± 100 feet.
2 Instrument Flying: Night Flying

• Climbing and descending: to preselected Dark Adaptation

altitudes. Level flight to be re-established at the Allow time to adjust to low light after completing
preselected altitude ± no more than 100 feet. any tasks that need to take place in bright light,
• Unusual attitude: prompt and correct recovery such as the preflight inspection. The rods become
from unusual attitudes. fully effective after approximately 30 minutes,
so avoid any bright light once dark adaption
PPL requirements: two hours dual, two hours
has started.
solo, five hours total
Be aware that mobile phones can have very
Night Vision bright displays.
Light-sensitive nerves, called cones and rods,
are located at the back of the eye. The cones are Illusions
located in the centre of the retina, and the rods A careful lookout on the ground and in air is
are concentrated in a ring around the cones. critical. It is very easy to lose sight of other aircraft
lights as they merge with background lights.
Figure 1 Speed perception is very difficult at night, and it is
common to find the taxy speed building up without
noticing it, consciously taxy slower than normal.
Transfer to instruments quickly after takeoff.
The horizon will probably not be visible, so
attitude speed and direction must be maintained
with reference to the aeroplane’s instruments.
The student should already be familiar with the
illusions they may experience when instrument
flying, these will still be present at night.
Cones detect colour, details and faraway objects. In addition the following illusions can be
Rods are used when something is seen out of the experienced at night:
corner of the eye, ie, for peripheral vision. They • Flicker Vertigo – flashing lights and flickering
detect objects, particularly those that are moving, from propellers can cause disorientation.
but do not give detail or colour. Rods make night
• Auto-Kinesis – a fixed light source against
vision possible. Because the rods are distributed
a dark background can appear to move.
in a band around the cones and do not lie directly
Avoid looking directly at the light.
behind the pupil, off-centre viewing (looking to one
side of an object) is important during night flight. • Ground Light or Star Light? – or even fishing
boats. In areas with little ground lighting,
In low light, central vision does not work as well, so
isolated lights can appear to be stars, making it
peripheral vision is relied upon. As peripheral vision
seem the aeroplane is in an irregular attitude.
is good at noticing changes, objects are more likely
to be noticed at night with peripheral vision. • Black Hole – can happen when approaching
a lit area over unlit terrain. Can cause
Central vision is still required to read instruments
the runway to seem out of position. Use the
or charts, but it is important to preserve as much
visual approach slope indicators, if available,
function in peripheral vision. In order to achieve
or carefully monitor the flight instruments.
this, allow time for eyes to adapt to the dark, avoid
bright light by keeping cockpit lights and torches
as dim as possible, and use a practised scanning
motion when looking outside the aeroplane.
 Instrument Flying: Night Flying 3

Equipment Review ATC light signals.

For the preflight check a torch will be required, in Discuss the particular approach lighting available
particular a torch powerful enough to be able to at the aerodrome, and how it is to be used, eg
see the detail required. PAPI. Check that the student can decode the
While carrying out the preflight, note the position lighting codes, and they know where to find the
of the aeroplane on the aerodrome and the decodes for those they cannot.
position of other aircraft.
It is also advisable to wear a high visibility jacket, Weather
and to be conscious of personal safety. Inadvertent IMC is more likely at night. Exercise
extreme caution. It can be very difficult to recognise
All lights should be checked to ensure they are weather deterioration and extremely hard to
working, including but not limited to; navigation determine if cloud is blocking the view of terrain.
lights, anti-collision lights, strobe lights, taxi lights
and landing lights. The pilot should also be familiar At night there is less mixing in the air up to
with their operation, how much can be seen with 2000 feet and the surface wind will lessen
them and when they are used. and back. This can also mean the surface wind
is significantly different from the wind at
Internal aeroplane lighting, including the compass, circuit altitude.
must be operational and the pilot should know
how to adjust the lighting levels. When the night is overcast it will be much harder
to identify cloud than it would be on a clear night.
The pilot’s personal night equipment should include:
Pay particular attention to the temperature/dew
• Torch, with spare batteries point relationship as an indicator of potential fog/
• Pen attached to the flight log, and a spare nearby low cloud.
• Mobile phone
Emergencies
• Watch
Detail the procedures to carry out in the event
• Warm clothing and a survival kit of the following emergencies:
• May like to carry a spare handheld VHF radio • Radio failure – follow the local procedure,
or GPS use the aeroplane’s lights and squawk 7600
• Runway lighting failure – the flight will need to
Familiarity with the Aeroplane divert to another aerodrome where the lighting
It is important to know the location of the controls is operational. This will need to be checked
and switches, so the pilot can operate them during the planning stages.
without needing to look at them. At this stage of
their training the student should be familiar with • Landing light or navigation light failure –
the aeroplane. the flight can continue, but should end at the
next landing.
Familiarity with the Aerodrome • Internal light failure – the flight can continue,
AIP Vol 4 Aerodrome Charts Operational Data but should end at the next landing.
details the lighting available on the aerodrome – • Electrical failure – should be noticed before
a thorough knowledge of lighting facilities total failure because of the increased
is important. frequency of SADIE checks. Total failure is
Discuss the location, colour and if applicable, the a serious event and the flight should land
direction of all aerodrome lighting, including apron, as soon as practicable. Use the standard
taxi, holding point, runway and approach lighting.
If pilot activated lighting (PAL) is available discuss
the operation of this.
4 Instrument Flying: Night Flying

overhead rejoin procedure.

Human Factors
• Engine failure – is particularly difficult to deal Instrument flying illusions will be present.
with at night. If the surface can be seen in
Night vision factors – 10/30 minute adaptation,
the moonlight, plan for a normal forced landing.
health (I’MSAFE), importance of oxygen to brain/
If the ground cannot be seen, fly at the
eye function, colour perception, depth perception,
minimum descent speed (1.1 VS) and turn into
focus (cones/rods), focal length (myopia), black
wind. Do not use flap unless the ground can be
hole, lights/stars.
seen. Landing lights should only be used from
below 400 feet agl as the glare will reduce the
ability to see beyond the light’s beam.
See the Night VFR GAP booklet for further
Air Exercise
information. On the Ground
Taxi slowly.
Recognise runway lighting position in peripheral
Airmanship vision as this is the landing perspective.
Preflight in the light if possible, otherwise use
When lining up make sure to have a careful
a good torch.
lookout for aircraft on the approach.
Correct use of taxi/landing lights and strobe light.
During takeoff use the runway lighting to keep on
Consider the number of other aircraft in the the centreline as a reference point in the distance
circuit, as it can be hard to see other aircraft in may not be available.
the circuit at night.
Once airborne immediately transfer to instruments
Caution – illusions discussed above. to establish the aeroplane attitude and speed, and
Fly at the Minimum Safe Altitude. This can be a positive rate of climb.
determined from the MFA figures on the VNCs. When established in the climb, then a
Identify local landmarks/lighting patterns – if any combination of instruments and visual reference
disappear such as a neighbouring community can be used.
–there is a strong likelihood of cloud or fog
development. In the Circuit
The first circuit should be a familiarisation circuit.
It is a chance to see the local area, and compare
Aeroplane Management how it looks at night to how it looks in the day.
More frequent SADIE checks It is also a chance to orientate and locate local
landmarks and townships.
Particular attention should be paid to dew
on windscreens and frost on wings. At night it can be difficult to see the runway
lighting from the downwind position, care must
Cockpit layout familiarity
be taken positioning the aeroplane downwind
Trust the instruments at the correct spacing.
 Instrument Flying: Night Flying 5

Approach and Landing

At night the runway edge lights must be used to
Airborne Sequence
Teach night taxi principles and the various apron/
judge the approach perspective.
runway/light recognition/application factors.
Figure 2 Take off and vacate the circuit to familiarise the
student with the different night perspective
i.e. illusions including black hole effect, lookout
– other aircraft speed/direction, lack of depth
perception, etc.
Return to the circuit and carry out approach
and low overshoots to view the runway lighting
perspectives of too low, on profile and too high.
Conduct night circuits, progressively introducing
various emergencies.

During the landing it is important to use the

runway perspective to judge the roundout and
flare, not look for the ground in the landing light.
The first few landings should be completed
without the landing light.
Be careful of carrying too much speed when
turning off the runway.