Night VFR following highways

"Ross" wrote in message
...
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?

Why would you want to when VORs ang GPSs are available? However, on a
clear night you can see the far away town lights. You just need to be sure
that the lights you see are the town you want. I'll stay with my GPS for
navigation.

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI

I'm not IFR qualified and have followed known (to me) interstates on murky
nights when I was over the boonies and the murk was sufficient to block out
the moon and stars. In rural areas, headlights on the highways can be your
only visual tell-tale for up vs down on a murky night.

Been there, done that.

KB

In rec.aviation.student Mxsmanic wrote:
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

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.

--
Michael Ash
Rogue Amoeba Software

In rec.aviation.piloting Mxsmanic wrote:
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. At a minimum,
you get simulated headlights, which is all you need to follow the highway.

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

--
Jim Pennino

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In rec.aviation.piloting Mxsmanic wrote:
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

Yeah, so?


--
Jim Pennino

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In rec.aviation.piloting wrote:
On Feb 1, 1:35?pm, wrote:
In rec.aviation.piloting 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?

About the only reason to follow highways (other than it just happens to
go where you want to go) at night is you are guaranteed that there is
nothing directly above the highway (such as a mountain peak), which is
handy for going through things like passes on dark nights and areas
dotted with high peaks.

However, the only way one would know visually that they are really
over most highways at night is from the real lights of real traffic.

Since there is no real traffic on your simulated highways with real
headlights, why would you care?

--
Jim Pennino

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Unless the highway goes through a tunnel....... : (

You're behind the power curve.

--
Jim Pennino

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In rec.aviation.piloting Mxsmanic wrote:
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.

You sound like a very small child.

You know sims are pretend, don't you?

--
Jim Pennino

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In article ,
wrote:

In rec.aviation.piloting Mxsmanic wrote:
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.

You sound like a very small child.

You know sims are pretend, don't you?

Sadly, he doesn't, no.

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.

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.

In rec.aviation.piloting wrote:

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

Agreed. However, it doesn't take much of a lapse in judgement.

Case in point. I used to live in the Columbia River Gorge, about
an hour east of Portland, OR. In this part of the Gorge, the
river is about a mile wide and is at an elevation of about 300 msl.
There is steep terrain on both sides of the river that rapidly goes
to 3000 and (in a few places 5000). The south side has a 4 lane
freeway and the north side has a fairly busy 2 lane highway.

It is not uncommon for the weather to be realtively ok at both
ends of the gorge but have ceilings of below 1200 or so feet in the
middle. There are at least two places where there are cables
crossing the river that are about 500 feet or about 800 msl.

The temptation is to go down the gorge and continually be trying to
sneak under the clouds. Hey, the weather man says its clear in The
Dalles (eastern end of the gorge). We got good landmarks visible off
both wing tips. These low clouds can't last more than a few miles,
right?

I've gotten a cheap motel twice in Portland rather than attempting
to go down the gorge in the dark. However, I certainly can see how
someone could sucker themselfs into a really bad situation.I've done
a lot of dumb things in a plane that I said would never allow happen
to me. Fortunately, this situation is not one of them.


Tunnels I'd have to think about; I can't think of any that aren't on
a twisty mountain road in terrain I would never fly in at night
anyway.

Well, to be honest, me neither. I did a little googling, though.
The Big Walker Tunnel between Virgina and West Virgina is 4,200 feet
long and goes under a 3000 foot "mountain". I put mountain in quotes
because to this left coast boy, 3000 feet doesn't make much of a
mountain. But I have no experiance flying in that part of the country.

--
Frank Stutzman
Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl"
Boise, ID