Night Ops

Helicopter Flight Information

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Night Operations - Night Flying

Some hate it, others love it. I guess it depends upon how you are looking at it at the time. In any case the risk level is elevated. We can offset these elevated risks as much as possible by accomplishing an extra thorough preflight, flying at higher altitudes, carrying a flashlight, and/or by taking many extra precautions etc.

Some of the elevated dangers of flying at night are; poorer visibility resulting in difficulty finding a landing area in the event of a power failure, poor depth perception, the inability to see clouds, and other things.

Landing options

When flying at night, if the moon is full or near full, you will be able to distinguish open fields etc. as they will appear lighter in color, lakes will often appear as black holes, and forested areas will be evident as such. You will be able to make out narrower roads than on other nights, and often lighter dirt roads are visible.

If the moon is not full, then of course the things you can see on the ground, and consequently your options diminish accordingly with the amount of lighting that you have available.

Landing light

The landing light should be off when not needed, one reason is the fact that the light reflects off of the particles in the air making visibility poorer than it already was especially if it is a humid night. Another other reason is that in the event of a power failure, you will want to conserve battery power as long as possible because when you turn on the landing light, it will dim rather quickly without the alternator operating. Remember however that it is safer to have your landing light on when near an active airport, and you should do so.

Altitude

Your altitude should be flown higher than normal. You will not be able to see unlit towers, and you should not over-fly lighted towers, as the top light could be burned out.

Your glide time and distance is greatly improved with higher altitude, which in turn improves your landing options. Remember that in a helicopter, your glide time is approximately 30 seconds for each 1000 feet of altitude. To an inexperienced pilot, the glide is over before it starts, but to a highly skilled pilot, it may seem like all day (not likely).

Caution must be used when selecting the altitude at which you will fly. You must remember that when you fly in any conditions, you must analyze all options, and take the safest option, which may include not departing on the flight in the first place. You must remember that you may not be able to see clouds while you are flying at night. As a result, you should fly at an altitude that will keep you below the level at which clouds may form.

You must also keep in mind that the temperature/dew point will be closing at night, and you should not fly away from your local airport if the split is 3 degrees or less prior to your departure as fog may form soon.

Approaches

Remember that your depth perception is greatly reduced at night, therefore higher than normal approaches should be flown, always to a lighted runway, using more runway than normal if necessary. The helicopter should be brought to a higher hover, and then settled slowly into the landing zone.

You will not be able to see the obstacles surrounding the landing area at night, as the landing light is not very effective above 300 feet or so.

Black-hole IFC

This has put more than one pilot and aircraft in the dirt, and probably is the most significant reason that night flying is not permitted in many countries without instrument ratings and qualifications. Black-hole instrument flight conditions (IFC) is as significant and as important as being aware of instrument flight conditions existing over water etc. To be operating in visual conditions (VMC) and operating under visual rules (VFR), means that you must have a distinguishable horizon. This horizon can be from sufficient ground or celestial lighting at night, but there must be lights of some kind. It could be that you could climb higher to see lights on the other side of the black-hole area. In no case is it acceptable to cross a black-hole operating under VFR without lights in site. One light is not acceptable either since it does not give a horizon; there must be multiple lights.

Encountering IIMC

Encountering Inadvertent Instrument Meteorological Conditions while operating as a VFR flight is an emergency situation unless both the pilot and aircraft are instrument certified which if so, an IFR flight plan must then be filed. In the event of IIMC the pilot must strictly and promptly follow IIMC procedures:

Attitude, Power (Manifold Pressure or Torque), and Airspeed; maintain aircraft control: Attitude - Level, Power - Climb, Airspeed - Climb. Do not attempt a turn until you are stabilized, and then not more than 15-degrees bank. If after you are stabilized you can safely make a turn back to VFR, then do so and ignore the rest of this paragraph.
Declare an emergency on 121.5: State, 'PAN, PAN, PAN (pilot assistance needed), Tail number e.g. (Helicopter november seven nine zero seven sierra), a controller will respond provided you have attained sufficient altitude to reach them. If not continue your climb and continue your radio call until contact is obtained.
Squawk 7700 on the transponder (emergency code). Set this only when stabilized. Do not attempt to do anything unless stabilized.
Request vectors to VFR (fuel permitting) if not possible then:
Request vectors to the nearest airport where an ASR or PAR approach can be accomplished.
If you are to low on fuel to accept vectors to an airport with ASR or PAR capabilities, you must get vectors to, and plan an emergency descent to a landing at the nearest suitable airport prior to exhausting your fuel. If you have not previously been taught this procedure, you will have your hands full but stability is the single most important factor.

Why would night flight be permitted?

To understand why we have that privilege here, it is necessary to understand the basis of aviation law in the United States. The simplest way to describe it is to compare our rule of law to that of Great Britain. In Great Britain, aviation law is based on "order in the air", while in the United States, the basis of our aviation law is "freedom in the air".

We must exercise caution so that we don't lose our freedoms. Once you lose it, you never get it back.