night qualification teaching - advice

[skyhigher]

hey,

i am looking for advice on teaching the night qualification, as i have limited hours night flying. Does anyone have any briefs on what they teach, or tips on what should be covered and typical problems students find with night flying?

Weather is not to much of a problem as where i teach the weather is pretty good (not the UK!).

Any structure for the teaching would be appreciated.

thanks.:ugh:

[tacpot]

I'm part-way through a night rating. The biggest problem I had is height perception during the flare. I got over this initially by using the landing light to judge when we were close enough to the runway to begin flaring. If I could see the landing light illuminating the runway surface, we were close enough! (On reflection:) , this appears to be a bit like the technique used by the Dambusters to set their bomb-run height, but their lights were more powerful!)

The 5 solo landings allows me time to discover what other visual clues I could derived from the runway lighting. The 'conventional' technique for judging landings, where the runway lights appear around ear height, didn't work for me, possible because I'm short in stature.

My instructor pointed out that distance perception was changed at night - things appearing closer than they really are. I haven't got a great sense of this yet as I've yet to do the night navigation trip.

Other difficulties I expect to encounter will be avoiding cloud, go/no-go decision-making around the adequacy of the visual horizon, spotting other traffic and deterimining the threat they pose based on the navigation lights visible - I hope I never meet a glider or hot-air ballon at night!

One thing I had to ask about was diversion planning. "If we can't land back at base, where else could we go to?" You should know all the local airfields that are open and which directions their runways are oreinted.

What I didn't realise until writing this is that this could affect your fuel planning as well!:uhoh:

From memory some of the other topics we covered were:
safety on the apron at night
pre-flight inspection
how all the various cockpit lighting controls work
how & when to turn on (and off) the external lights
night vision - how to get it, and preserve it
taxing speed
how to spot ice on the wings
cockpit lighting failures
PAPI failure
Operation with minimal runway lights
Forced Landings at night

best wishes

tp

[FlyingForFun]

From a practical point of view, there are four particular areas that need to be taught: taxying, flying, landing and navigation.

Before you even start flying, though, there are things which need extra consideration. Allow time for your eyes to adjust. (You'd be surprised at how many students, after being briefed on this subject, will walk outside to pre-flight an aircraft, then walk back into a lit room immediately prior to flying.) And discuss the use of a torch for the pre-flight.

When taxying, emphasise how difficult it is to find your way around an airfield you don't know. (If possible, take them to an airfield they don't know.) Discuss taxy speed, use of taxy light, not cutting corners, airfield lighting. Keep rpm high enough to keep the alternator working, dab the brakes periodically to control speed if necessary. Another subject for discussion is the lack of peripheral vision (and, for example, the difficulty this poses in detecting movement outside when you are heads-in doing power checks).

On the flying, the main thing is the need to use the AI to back up the visual horizon. If possible, find a specific place near your home airfield where you can demonstrate this particularly well (e.g. a town behind a hill). Also discuss the problems of forced landings.

The biggest problem I had is height perception during the flare. I got over this initially by using the landing light to judge when we were close enough to the runway to begin flaring
The single most important thing, from a practical point of view at least, to teach in night flying is not to use the landing light to judge the flare! For this reason, always start with the landing light off for landing, and only allow the student to turn it on once he has learned to land with it off.

On the same note, ask ATC to turn the runway edge lights down to their minimum brightness, and turn off all other runway lights (approach lights, PAPIs, etc) when teaching night landings to a new student.

As for navigation, there is a mandatory element of navigation in night flying, and I think the best way to use this is to get the student to plan a navigation leg using only visual navigation techniques. The aim should be to demonstrate how difficult it is to navigate visually at night, and suggest to the student that it is not a good way of navigation, and that navaids should be used to back up visual nav whenever possible at night. (There is no need to teach navaids, since the student should be familiar with them from his PPL anyway - and if he's not, they can be taught during the daytime just as easilly as at night.)

Away from the practical side of things, you say you are not teaching in the UK - but are you teaching for the UK qualification? If so, students must understand that night flying in the UK is always IFR or SVFR, and understand the implications of that (quadrantal rule and the 1000' rule outside controlled airspace).

Those are the main points which spring to mind, although I don't have my notes with me, so I may have missed something. Have fun - I think the night qualification is one of the most enjoyable qualifications to teach for!

FFF
--------------

[Dr Eckener]

The weather is also important. For example temp close to dew point in the a.m. is not as bad as temp close to dew point in the p.m.

What FFF says about use of landing lights is spot on.

[TurboJ]

The single most important thing, from a practical point of view at least, to teach in night flying is not to use the landing light to judge the flare!

Couldn't agree more - the first thing to teach a student when landing at night is NOT to look at the runway - look all the way down the runway and judge height from peripheral vision of the runway edge lighting - this height /vision will have been demonstrated prior to departure by sitting on the numbers for a few minutes pointing out all the lights and what everything looks like at night to them.

I think landing at small airports is harder than at major intl airports as places like Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton etc are lit up like a Christmas tree - go to some small airports and the runway is a like a dark black hole with limited lighting.

On the same note, ask ATC to turn the runway edge lights down to their minimum brightness, and turn off all other runway lights (approach lights, PAPIs, etc) when teaching night landings to a new student.


Not always possible - some airports say they become unlicensed if they turn off approach lighting.

(There is no need to teach navaids, since the student should be familiar with them from his PPL anyway

Not in my experience - I currently teach a vast experience range for night and IMC and the majority of PPL holders haven't a clue how navaids work - they are more familiar with the 'direct to' of the GPS which of course gets switched off. Basic instrument flying and navaids becomes a brief of its own.

Personally, I think five hours for the night qual is not enough - too much to cover in too few hours and there is commercial pressures to keep it to five hours because that it what the student will have paid for.

[tacpot]

Personally, I think five hours for the night qual is not enough - too much to cover in too few hours and there is commercial pressures to keep it to five hours because that it what the student will have paid for.

I'm not sure that it's too little, if there is a high degree of continuity in the 5 hours, and an opportunity to consolidate immediately after gaining the qual. My continuity has not been good, and I wouldn't feel confident at launching off on a night trip without more time with an instructor checking that I can still land safely.

My big worry is that the opportunity to consolidate the night flying looks to be very limited. The school I'm at really don't seem keen on PPL pilots flying at night without an instructor.

tp

[jamestkirk]

remember to take full fuel (wherever possible), seeing as on average on 10% of the airports open during the day are open at night.

I never let a student, even doing circuits, take off without full tanks.

[FlyingForFun]

On the same note, ask ATC to turn the runway edge lights down to their minimum brightness, and turn off all other runway lights (approach lights, PAPIs, etc) when teaching night landings to a new student.
Not always possible - some airports say they become unlicensed if they turn off approach lighting.

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I don't believe you need a licensed airport for the night qualification, since it is not a rating or a license. Can anyone confirm this? (And in any case, the original poster said he is not in the UK, so it's not relevant to him.)

FFF
----------------

[masteroftransport]

I've always been told it does need to be licensed which makes some sense as we sending the first solo at night so prob. best to have someone to spray water at them if needed. None of mine have needed it so far so I'm not speaking from experience. Thank God.

[Tinstaafl]

Night VFR – Some differences

Some of these points are fairly general, others specific to Australia eg the LSALT rule allowing immediate descent under certain circumstances, navaid rules.

Some may be different to what your school teaches, in which case your school's procedures should take priority.


Flight Preparation

Pilot:

Physiological limitations

Vision:
· Takes around 30 minutes for vision to adjust. Far longer if prior daytime exposure to very bright lighting eg beach, over water, snow
· Avoid bright sunlight during the day
· Peripheral vision is more sensitive in dim light so avoid looking directly at objects to see them. Better to look slightly to the side of the expected position

Sense of balance ie inner ear:
· With minimal, or no, visual reference (the natural horizon, ground etc) the human animal is not capable of determining the difference between acceleration and attitude
· Acceleration is easily and incorrectly confused for an attitude change eg forward acceleration interpreted as a pitch up
· Has a ‘minimum threshold’ for perception so any motion below that threshold is not recognised

Psychological:
· Diurnal cycle of human activity has a peak during the day but a low point around 3 or 4 am.
· May already have experienced a full day of activity prior to the flight commencing. Fatigue effects may be more problematic

Equipment:

General
· Where possible make use of the daylight to do pre-flight, refuel, move aircraft to a suitably uncongested parking area
· Avoid covering charts with contact. Reflected cockpit lighting can interfere with reading the chart
· Avoid using red or green ink or pencil. Under red cockpit lighting these colours tend to become invisible

Lighting

Additional lighting required
· Crew – torches. NB A torch held to shine through the fuel sample cup from the side is effective for seeing any water droplets.
· Aircraft - cockpit lighting (2 sources), landing lights, beacon & navigation lights, pilot & passenger compartment lights. Can check post lights during daylight by putting your finger under the beam
· Aerodrome – runway lighting, wind indicator lighting, obstruction lighting, 2 types of taxiway lights (blue sideline, green centreline), holding points

Instruments

In addition to Airspeed Indicator, Altimeter, Compass & timepiece, NVFR requires
· Attitude Indicator
· Directional Indicator
· Turn Coordinator
· Radio navigation equipment eg NDB or VOR (is DME only acceptable?). Of course this means the ground station is also necessary

Planning:

Take-off & Departure

· Consider obstacles in the circuit area & necessity to climb to LSALT (see en-route) prior to leaving the circuit area
· Additional time & fuel will be necessary during this climb prior to departure

En-route

· LSALT required to be calculated for all route sectors (1000’ within 10nm)
· Weather forecast needs to be very good due difficulty to see & avoid cloud.
· What navigation aids are you qualified to use & are they available? Must have at least one eg NDB

Arrival & Landing

· Plan to descend while circling within the circling area of the AD. Can reduce the height to descend by planning multiple sectors, each with it’s own LSALT, even on a straight leg eg BIK to YSBK has a high LSALT however a new LSALT can be applied from YSCN & again from 2RN
· More fuel will be required for this procedure
· Alternate requirements more extensive ie Wx, Aids, Lights
Note: 60 minute flight time limitation for ALTN due Aids


In Flight

Take-off & Departure

· Lack of visual reference after take-off & the necessity to rely wholly on instruments
· Propensity for somatogravic illusions during climb out. Limit Angle of Bank to achieve Rate 1 or so


En-route

· Must not fly below LSALT.
Note: can descend immediately to a new LSALT if visually (& only visually) past the critical object. ie don’t have to allow 10 nm behind A/C in this circumstance
· May only be able to determine presence of cloud by what you can’t see ie. Cloud occluding some or all of a town’s lights or that of an area of stars or the moon
· Navigation uses a combination of visual & radio navaid techniques

Visual:
· Navigate using light sources eg towns, cities, roads with traffic, sometimes bodies of water reflecting moon etc
· Estimating distance extremely difficult so may have to use patterns of light sources
· Bodies of water may be recognisable by the outline formed by town/city lights around the shore
· May be appropriate to use PAL to confirm position

Radio:
· NDB may have reduced range at night
· Must not focus on navigation instruments or aircraft control and accuracy can suffer


Arrival & Landing

· Don’t descend below LSALT outside the circuit area
· Approaches without glideslope guidance are extremely prone to errors in judgement due visual illusions. For a 1000’ circuit height, a base turn at 45° will give a top of final height of 500’. At this top of final you can determine the unique sight picture (‘perspective’) for an approach to that runway
· Consciously look at the far end of the runway as the threshold disappears under the nose otherwise you will look into the pool of light just ahead of the aircraft & fly into it.
· Use peripheral vision to perceive a descent (or otherwise) to the runway. Controlled power reduction can be used to maintain a sink onto the runway while raising the nose to apparently meet the runway end lights
Note: Height judgement is unreliable at night due lack of depth perception. Different runway widths & lengths will cause a flare at different heights with the high possibility of stalling at some height above the runway - hence using a controlled descent rate to the runway
· Be cautious about taxi speeds & exiting the runway. It is difficult to judge roll-out speeds at night & easy to try to exit the runway at too high a speed for control & safety.

[skyhigher]

thanks to all who have replied to this post, some great advise.
anymore welcome

[Gargleblaster]

I'm not an instructor, but here's a few comments based on my night rating training.

I found it a good drill when the instructor flipped the master switch off without warning :-)

Try flying with and witout moonlight. Wery illustrative. I personally never fly at night with less than a quarter moon.

If possible, land at an airport that has radio controlled lightning. I had never tried this before, can be quite tricky to send e.g. five clicks with the right interval, and if goes wrong, you sometimes have to wait for a while before you can try again.

When doing touch'n gos, if possible, have the tower adjust the lights, all the way from off to very bright. Remarkable how you can actually land with no runway lights if there's some moon. Also remarkable how difficult it is with all lights at full strength.

Do a full simulated engine failure. With some moon, you can actually spot where to land.

Treat every such flight as an IFR flight. I was tought to fully check all navaids and other stuff that you don't do when flying at day. E.g. listen to the morse ID on the ADFs / VORs / ILS that are available while on the ground.

Personally, I felt it just as easy to land at night as during the day.

PS
Then there's the emergency landing procedure for a very dark night: At 50', turn on the landing light(s). If what you see looks good, leave on. Otherwise, turn off again :-)

[TurboJ]

I would like to add the following as a night rating (qual) instructor
I found it a good drill when the instructor flipped the master switch off without warning :-)

Personally not something I would do - night flying in a single engine is dodgy enough without adding to the list of things to potentially go wrong. The alternator is probably working its hardest keeping the battery charged with all the lights and equipment that are operating. The same effect can be illustrated by switching off the panel lights which is on the UK night syllabus.

I personally never fly at night with less than a quarter moon.

Why ? The principle of night flying is the same regardless of how much of a moon there is. What happens when the quarter of a moon becomes obscured by cloud whilst out flying? However, I do acknowledge that there are different levels of darkness !
Do a full simulated engine failure.
You may find this prohibited at many flight schools. Certainly all the schools I teach at PFLs, EFATOs, stalls etc are all forbidden after official night.
Treat every such flight as an IFR flight.
Night flying in the UK is IFR.

[EvilKitty]

Personally not something I would do - night flying in a single engine is dodgy enough without adding to the list of things to potentially go wrong. The alternator is probably working its hardest keeping the battery charged with all the lights and equipment that are operating. The same effect can be illustrated by switching off the panel lights which is on the UK night syllabus.


As a student I have to agree with Gargleblaster. Switching the internal lights off does not have the same effect - after all, thats why you carry a small torch for use in the cockpit. It's one thing for the internal lights to go dark but still be able to see the instruments using the torch, hear the comms, see the lights outside flashing reassuringly. It's quite another for it to go very dark, very quiet, and the (electrical) instruments dead when the torch is on them. The only way to hear the person next to you is to take the headphones off at which point it gets *very* noisy. Turning suddenly becomes a whole lot more difficult as you have no AI, no DI, no navaids. You're trying to shine the torch on the compass (which may involve turning your head away from the direction of the turn), and you may no longer have a good horizon for outside reference. It takes a lot of concentration and you will get tired quickly (unless you have recent IMC experience). Now throw in the diversion back to your home field (if doing this on the nav-ex).

It's very stressful and tiring, but at the same time one of the most satisfying flights I have made (after my first solo and solo land-away).

[jamestkirk]

You said your areodrome has RADIO CONTROLLED LIGHTNING! where do you get the CB's from....................amazing.

I teach a full electrical failure at night by switching off the master. It's just for the student to experience the flight with absolutely no communications and lighting. I do however pair it with some gen handling so they can use the torch to look at the instruments.

And, I find it quite peaceful.

[EvilKitty]

You said your areodrome has RADIO CONTROLLED LIGHTNING! where do you get the CB's from....................amazing.

Not that amazing. Hertz first did this in 1888 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spark-gap_transmitter)

And, I find it quite peaceful.

It was definately peaceful with the headset on.

[jamestkirk]

I forgot about hertz, so I humbly stand corrected.

[EvilKitty]

jamestkirk

no worries. I'm good at remembering obscure arcana but hopeless at remembering anything actually useful. Came in handy for the airlaw exam :}

OK, how do you do that line thing???

[TurboJ]

I teach a full electrical failure at night by switching off the master.

There is no requirement for the grant of a night qualification to either demonstrate flight with the aircraft master switched off or for the student to be able to demonstrate that the aircraft can be flown with complete loss of electrics. If there is, then the FIE who removed by night instructor restriction has it all wrong.

During the nav exercise I simply give the student an indication of what annunicators would be displayed if the alternator packed up. If the student correctly states that he would load shed non essential electrics and land within 30 minutes, then I am satisfied that the student knows what she/he is doing.

Flying with the master switched off simply powers down the gyros, amongst other things, and would lead an inexperienced PPL into a spiral dive and an instructor with no instruments to recover. Lets hope its a moon lit night and visual references are sufficient to recover. Some parts of south east UK are nothing more than a black void with nothing to be seen for miles.

I do however pair it with some gen handling so they can use the torch to look at the instruments.


What instruments? The ones that aren't working properly because they are switched off.

Personally I think there are more useful things to teach ie. how to navigate and land at night which is actually on the syllabus.

[FlyingForFun]

Flying with the master switched off simply powers down the gyros, amongst other things, and would lead an inexperienced PPL into a spiral dive and an instructor with no instruments to recover
The only flight instrument which is affected by switching off the electric power (in most light singles) is the turn co-ordinator.

I'm not sure about the wisdom of switching everything off - but my concerns would be centred more on how (in)visible I become to other aircraft (a small concern, since I am looking out, it's a big sky, and it's only for a few moments) than the loss of a turn co-ordinator.

FFF
----------------

[jamestkirk]

Turboj

Thansk to flyingforfun I don't have to go through basic aircraft knowledge. Thanks fff. My post is quite clear about why i do it.

I also teach having the landing light on when climbing near cloud. That will give a really good indication if you are about to enter it. Thats not in the syllabus so maybe i will have to drop that.

Who are you.

Evilkitty.

What line thing? You may know something about me that i am not aware of. I will deny everything under question or caution!

[jamestkirk]

Sorry, forgot to add this.

Yes, you are absolutely right about stealth mode. I inform ATC of my exact location what i am doing. Usually its only for about 5-10 minutes and only if the visibilty is good or VMC on top.

[TurboJ]

Who are you.

Thankfully not one of your students being fleeced for dual instruction at probably £140 per hour doing general handling at night with no electrics, which is neither a requirement of the syllabus for the grant of a night qualification and IMHO not entirely safe.

The landing light near cloud sounds a great idea but then again why are you flying near cloud with a PPL holder who wants a night rating?

Hour building at the expense of the student ?

TJ

[jamestkirk]

YOU PUT THE LANDING LIGHT ON SO THEY ARE WARNED IN ADVANCE AND DO NOT ENTER CLOUD. ITS CALLED BEING SAFE AND TO KEEP THEM O U T OF CLOUD
How would they know cloud is about at or near an altitude? I get them to read things caled tafs and metars.

Can you also explain the lack of knowledge you have on light aircraft systems that you think you lose the instruments if the elecrics go off. You seemed to forget to mention that. So i am glad that i am not one of your students as you seem to have a lack of knowledge and an inability to think laterally

The electrics. I can see that you have to be educated a bit:
If you lose electrics at night you have 30 minutes battery power. Most engineers will tell you that 30 mins is a maximum and depends on the age/condition of the battery. As previously posted, about 10% of airfields are open at night of those open due the day.

This means that it may take you far longer than 30 minutes to get to a destination. Which in turn means that you may have lost everything electrical. And they might have to turn the aircraft or descend so they can land; or am i being sensationalist there. It's an exderience thing for them so they don't get worried if that happened. Also, I hope you know the procedure for electrical failure so they tower can see you when joining the cicuit. Would it be fair to say that if you have lost your lights you probably have lost everything.

And where did you get the idea that a student would go off an do that for a laugh by him/herself. It's a ludicrous and idiotic statement to make.

And to finish. The most hours I have trained a students on a night rating is 5 hours 10 minutes. I think the minimum is 5 hours, so 10 minutes of hour building is not something that will fill the log book.

Please go and spend an hour in a float tank to ease whatever frustration you have. Or read up on some of the above. you seem to need to.

[TurboJ]

Captain Kirk

Thanks for the aircraft knowledge lesson - I believe I am suffering from the symptom known as reverting to type - by day I fly a business jet and switching the master off in flight would, not only panick the captain and passengers but would also switch off (all the electrics) the power to the PFD (primary flight display) and MFD (multi function display);

........the only flight instruments left would be the standby instruments which are directly fed off the no2 pitot static ports which bypass the air data computers and are about as much use as an ash tray on a bike.

Hence I read a post about switching a master off ...........

- so my lesson learnt would be to read the posts - preferably not after a six sector day -

And where did you get the idea that a student would go off an do that for a laugh by him/herself

Can you point out where I suggested a student should practise these exercises solo ?

Please go and spend an hour in a float tank to ease whatever frustration you have. Or read up on some of the above. you seem to need to.

I don't believe patronising, personal jibes is very constructive. As instructors we should always be open to different ideas, concepts and ultimately admit when we are incorrect. :D

[jamestkirk]

Point taken about the biz jet.

You stated that a PPL would find themself in a spiral dive. Don't think that would happen with an instructor on board. But admittadly you were thinking that he/she had no instruments. To see the instruments, they have a 2 cell maglite welded between thier head and headset frame. Not as un-comfortable as it sounds.

Patronising jibes: you did imply that i was hour building at the expense of the student. So yes, your right, not very constructive.

I am open to all ideas, hence why i teach a few things that are not strictly worded around the syllabus so that in un-usual circumstances a pilot can stay calm and get on with the job. I absolutely insist that a night student/pilot goes off with full tanks, even round the circuit. That's not listed in the syllabus anywhere. I also teach that if they are going cross country to land away, they always file an IFR flight plan. Again, not in the syllabus but a good idea.

Spinning is not compulsory in the PPL syllabus, but i still insist they have stall spin awareness and can recover from one.

I am sure that as an FI you teach the same.

[G-SPOTs Lost]

The other thing to consider about turning off the t/c is that strictly speaking you should let the gyro spin down and stop before spinning it up again.

It mightbe worthwhile speaking to your maintenance organisation about this

[jamestkirk]

Thanks. I will certainly do that.

[hugh flung_dung]

The other thing to consider about turning off the t/c is that strictly speaking you should let the gyro spin down and stop before spinning it up again.
In principle it's just a motor and flywheel so why would there be any restriction like this? ... and where is it documented?

HFD