Night VFR Soaring (USA)

Night flying requires specific training, practice and currency but,
given that, landings become comfortable enough. Since, like
instrument training, night training is hard/impossible to do in a
glider, you're pretty much left training in a light airplane. Google
"night flying" and find a lot of useful stuff.

As for the question about practicality, we know soaring flight can be
sustained in wave and on a ridge at night. Some bare rock, like old
lava, holds enough heat to keep thermals going well after dark. LED
aircraft lighting has been approved so the current draw is low
enough. I have seen pictures of gliders in Argentina landing at night
with both position lights and a landing light. Looking at some of the
Argentine distance wave flights on OLC, it's clear some took off and/
or landed at night.

The unasked question is about safety. Night flight has a really bad
accident record in General Aviation - and that's with an engine for go-
arounds if an approach turns out badly. I found that night flight
just works better if you treat it as instrument flying. There are
certainly times and places when a pilots only attitude reference will
be his instruments even in clear weather. An IFR panel and current
skills to use it would be on my minimum equipment list. It's worth
noting that the USA is one of the few countries in the world which
allows night VFR.

Taking off into a "Black Hole" with absolutely no ground lights on a
dark night is an experience every pilot who has experienced it will
remember forever.


On Apr 13, 12:04*pm, jcarlyle wrote:
I once made a landing on our unlighted grassy field at 5 minutes
before local sunset. It's not an experience I ever want to have again!
Judging height for the flare was difficult - sort of like skiing a
mogul field at night.

-John

I'd think that you'd have difficulty judging height above the runway,
unless you had a landing light.

On Apr 13, 12:57 pm, Mike the Strike wrote:



In issuing a new airworthiness certificate, my local FAA FSDO examiner
told me yesterday that the restrictions on experimental aircraft
(which includes a lot of sailplanes) to fly only in day VFR had been
removed, and night VFR was now permitted in aircraft equipped with the
necessary navigation lights.

In Arizona, our short summer days sometimes have us on final glide as
the sun is setting and we do occasionally land around (or even just
after) sunset. *I know most contest rules cut off soaring at or before
sunset, but I wonder if there any circumstances where this would be
useful?

Night OLC, anyone?

Mike

bildan wrote:
... It's worth
noting that the USA is one of the few countries in the world which
allows night VFR.

??