### Introduction Your Private Pilot License gives you permission to fly at night as well as in the daytime. Flying at night brings additional risks, but it can also deliver smooth air, beautiful views, and schedule convenience.  Even if you don't plan to fly at night, you need to be prepared -- you never know when a well-planned flight will encounter delays that push your landing into the night hours. In this lesson we cover all the ways in which night flying is different, including the limitations of night vision, night illusions, a higher bar for the go/no-go decision, and greater reliance on flight instruments.  The FARs also require you to log 3 hours, 10 takeoffs and landings, and a 100NM XC at night ([[FAR 61.109 PPL Experience Reqs|FAR 61.109]]) as part of your private pilot training, so we'll complete that training as well. **Pre-Lesson Reading/Homework:** [[~ PPL Pre-Lesson Reading]] **Builds On:** [[PPL1.5 Towered Airport Operations]], [[PPL2.2 Navigation Charts, National Airspace System, and Intro to FARs]], [[PPL4.6 Pilotage and Dead Reckoning]] **Schedule:** Ground 1.0 hr, Flight 3.0 hr ### Lesson Elements **Regulations pertaining to night flight** 1. Required equipment ([[FAR 91.205 Instrument and Equipment Requirements|§ 91.205]]) - [[APES]] or [[FLAPS]] 2. The three definitions of "night" (examiners love to ask about this) 1. Navigation lights required sunset-to-sunrise ([[FAR 91.209 Aircraft Lights|§ 91.209]]) 2. Logging night flight -- after civil twilight ([[Night - For Logging Time]]) 3. Night currency for carrying passengers -- 3 takeoffs and (fullstop) landings within 90 days, >1 hour after sunset ([[FAR 61.57 Recent Flight Experience|§ 61.57]]) 3. Stop-and-goes vs touch-and-goes **Bay Area local information** 1. [[Palo Alto Airport|KPAO]] reverts to Class G, which means only the indicated pattern direction (right traffic) on 31^[[[FAR 91.126 Class G Airspace Ops Near Airport]]] when tower closed 2. Many airports have unique noise abatement procedures at night 3. Weather at night, especially over Sunol 4. Moffett airspace LOA not in effect 5. Tower and ground often combined on ATC **Aircraft lighting and night equipment** 1. Anti-collision lights -- strobes and/or beacon -- (required day or night, per [[FAR 91.209 Aircraft Lights|§ 91.209]]) 2. Navigation lights (aka position lights) 1. "[[Green Red Dead]]" 3. Landing Lights 1. > [!quote] From [[AFH Ch11]] > Pilots are encouraged to turn on their landing lights when operating within 10 miles of an airport and below 10,000 feet. 4. Interior and panel lighting 5. Fueling at night or before 6. Night lighting personal preferences 7. Landing light on as you cross runways **Navigation and Lighting at night** 1. [[Airport Lighting]] 2. Plan a route to maximize time within glide range of an airport 3. Pilotage and chart-reading techniques 4. Greater reliance on instruments is required 5. Fly to airport beacon until runway lights are clearly visible **Pilot considerations** 1. Physiology of night flight with respect to vision 1. [[Night Illusions]] 2. [[Vision in Flight]] of even greater importance 2. Personal lighting equipment **Other Topics** 1. Night emergencies 2. The go/no-go decision 1. Weather matters more than ever. Clouds are invisible on a moon-less night 2. A narrow temperature/dewpoint spread means fog could form soon 3. How to detect inadvertent flight into [[IMC]] 3. Night flight experience -- 3 hours required: 1. Dual cross-country of > 100nm 2. 10 takeoffs and landings in pattern, full stop^[Notice both takeoff and landings must be at night. If you depart before/during civil twilight and land after civil twilight, that counts as 1 night landing, but not 1 night takeoff.]^[These 10 takeoffs and landings must also be around the pattern, not just the end of a flight.] **Common errors** 1. Navigational disorientation 2. Loss of spatial awareness, due to loss of visual horizon^[[[Illusions Leading to Spatial Disorientation]]] 3. Getting low on final approach, due to black hole illusion^[[[Illusions Leading to Landing Errors]]] 4. Inadvertent flight into clouds is possible ### Completion Standards Client demonstrates the knowledge and skills to fly and navigate at night safely. ### Resources - [[Private Pilot ACS]] Section XI.A ### Required Experience > [!note] > Specific night flight requirements from [[FAR 61.109 PPL Experience Reqs]]: > - 3 hours of night flight training in a single-engine airplane that includes— > - (i) One cross-country flight of over 100 nautical miles total distance; and > - (ii) 10 takeoffs and 10 landings to a full stop (with each landing involving a flight in the traffic pattern) at an airport. ### Required Homework - [ ] Plan >101nm night cross-country flight ### Recommended Homework - [ ] Read [Hazards Associated with Flying at Night](https://tc.canada.ca/en/aviation/publications/system-safety-summer-briefing-kit-tp-14112/hazards-associated-flying-night-powerpoint-presentation) *Return to [[~ PPL Lesson Plan Outline|Table of Contents]]^*