Night VFR following highways

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

gatt writes:

My father-in-law (ANG helicopter crewman) takes "IFR" to mean "I
Follow Roads " (or rivers)

There is a sobering story right along those lines at

http://www.aopa.org/pilot/never_again/2008/na0801.html

I find it interesting that the author says this VFR flight scared him
more than any of his combat missions in Vietnam.

Sure. For example, Interstate 5 runs from Canada to Mexico, and the
stretch through most of Oregon looks like somebody drew a straight
line with a pencil across the landscape. If you were flying from
Portland (possible Seattle) to Eugene, Medford, Sacramento, etc, day
or note you could follow the freeway the entire route.

You'd still use your VFR navigation aids and checkpoints to make sure
know how far you are enroute, and also to avoid controlled airspace,
etc, but having that road, railroad, river makes for a more-enjoyable
flight.

Good. I wanted to make sure I'm not missing some risk or danger to
following highways. From the article above I learned that things like
wires and cables are a real risk if you're very close to the highway,
but only a helicopter would be that low.


Wow, hittign a virtual wire in a virtual airplane could really ruin your
day if you were insane!


Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

writes:

Actually, it simulates little colored pixels which simulate cars in a
simulated world so that people with nothing better to do can simulate
living their lives.

That depends on the sim, the scenery used, and other things.


Yeh, obviously.


What an idiot.


Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

writes:

And I'm sure it is all very realistic, just like the back pressure
on the yoke...

If you have the right attitude and are reasonably intelligent, yes, it
is very realistic.


IOW if you have your hea up your ass and you believe in the tooth fairy,
it's very realistic

Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

writes:

Translation: If you ignore all the discrepancies and have a really
good imagination, it is almost, sorta, kinda, realistic.

Approximately, yes.


Nope. it isn't realisti at all fjukkwit.

It's a toy, period.



Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

writes:

Anyone flying at night low enough to worry about power lines in
route is an idiot.

Here is the "idiot's" story:

http://www.aopa.org/pilot/never_again/2008/na0801.html


So, you want to simulate idiocy now do you?

I got news for you, that is the one thing you do not need a sim for...


Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Michael Ash writes:

It is rather strange to put "idiot" in quotes when the entire point
of the story was that this guy was, on that particular night, really,
really stupid.

I was being charitable; I guess charity is too rarely seen on USENET
to be recognizable.


What, your wish list not working out so good , beggar boy?


Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

A Guy Called Tyketto writes:

Charity is like respect. It is given to those who deserve it;
who earn it.

So how do starving children earn charity?



They make a plea on amazon?


Perhaps Anthony should register with Unicef as well.


Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
news
Michael Ash writes:

Maybe you thought you were being charitable, but you weren't. When an
article's entire purpose is for the author to explain an incident in
which ha was stupid in the hopes that others can learn from his
mistakes, using scare quotes to imply that maybe he wasn't actually
stupid at all is not being charitable.

If I had not put it in quotes, someone would have criticized me for
calling him an idiot. So it doesn't really matter.


That's right. Nothing about you matters.



Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

paul k. sanchez writes:

I would suggest doing a flight then at night so you could find out.
Perhaps along some mountain passes with 3.1 statue mile visibility,
with appropriate distance from clouds. Please lets us know after you
done this flight.

I've done that, but with radio navigation aids. Even so, it was pretty
harrowing.


Bwawhahwhahwhahhwhahwhahwhhahwhahwhahhwhahwhahwhah hwhahwhahhwhahwhahhwhahwh
ahwhahwhhahwhahwahhwhahwhahwhahwhahwhahhwhahwhahhw hahhahwhahwhahhwhahwhahwh
ahhhahwhahhahahwhahwhahwhahhwhahwhahwhahwhahwhahhw hawh!


Bertie

"Ken S. Tucker" wrote in
:

On Feb 1, 10:28 am, Mxsmanic wrote:
Is it a bad idea to fly VFR at night and navigate by following
highways? At night outside large cities, there doesn't seem to be
much else that's visible. It seems to me that if you can clearly see
the highway, it can guide you and you can get a good idea of where
you are with respect to terrain, so it should work. Are there hidden
dangers in this? Do night VFR pilots ever/often navigate by
following highways? What other forms of visual navigation are usable
at night?

A danger is hitting towers, (TV, radio) that are usually
close to hwy's for maintenance.


Not to mention the antennae coming out of your tinfoil hat.

Yes, I know they are supposed to be lit and yes
they should be noticeable if not shrouded in fog.
But every few years a bertie wins the Darwin by
finding one while dorking in an A/C, fortunately
that improves the gene pool.


Ah, if only that were true.



Bertie