----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----
Tim, I once was able to have a clear-night view of the orange carpet of the L.A. basin, looking south, from an airliner on my one trip to Hawaii. Such a carpet of light! Your visual horizon on a night like that would be, I'd think, as firm as daytime in the Midwest which is to say a LOT firmer than normal daytime in Southern California! Though I've heard of difficulty in navigating Southern California in the daytime, it sounds from your account like you were able to clearly identify your landmarks. Sometimes night flying CAN give much clearer navigation clarity than daytime. I'll trust your judgment that you had full control of your navigation. I do understand and agree with Greg that such night flying needs to be done only with really firm control. (My personal night minimums were that I wouldn't go night flying if there were a cloud in the state. You can see that I was cautious!) Thanks for the GREAT story. I hope you get more opportunities for similar magic carpet rides! Ed Burkhead http://edburkhead.com/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] (remove the QQQ) -----Original Message----- From: Greg Bullough [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2004 7:44 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Night VFR Adventures ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]---- Tim: Your night VFR flight sounds awe-inspiring. However, as someone who wants to see all Ercoupers live to a ripe old age and retain their licenses, I see many reasons for you to have cancelled your contemplated flight and only one reason to have continued. Now I know it's a sensitive subject, second-guessing another pilot's judgement, but there are just a number of things that bother me about that flight: 1) Your GPS failed, due to a line cord problem and there was no battery. It was night, and you were in one of the busiest airspaces in the country. For that flight, I'd want not just a panel-powered GPS, I'd want battery back-up. In fact no small number of us who a serious GPS users actually have a smaller, spare unit. 2) It was your first night cross-country in years. 3) You were leaving the immediate area, where changes in landmarks or dark patches could cause confusion or even spatial disorientation. 4) You had no gyro instruments, making recovery from vertigo very difficult. 5) You had to 'pray' that your wet compass was accurate enough. You mean you rely on it when you didn't know? Anyone can swing a compass, but it's hard to do it after takeoff. 6) You did induce a bit of spatial disorientation, and you were fortunate in the outcome 7) Your passenger was a non-pilot. He could as easily have been a CFI, or another pilot (who brought his or her own hand-held GPS along). Had that been the case, both pilot and passenger would have had a better odds of getting home to their sweethearts that lovely Valentine's day. Now I know that SoCal is lit up like a Christmas tree on a clear night, and that it makes night look like day. I also know that the sea of orange streetlights and highways sometimes creates confusion and doubt. And I also know that you probably have a rebuttal for each of the points above. But also know, that for as many people out here who would have said 'go' there are a few more who would have said 'not tonight.' Nobody ever died from saying 'not tonight.' Please be conservative and join us at many EOC meetings to come. Blue skies, Greg ======================================================================== ====== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/ ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/
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