Terrain Avoidance at Night

My early years of flying were spent in the Midwest where as long as you
were over 2000 MSL, there were very few obstacles to hit and no
terrain. Now that I have moved out West (Phoenix) I am increasingly
paranoid about hitting terrain at night.

Choosing a cruise altitude is easy (well above anything even close to
your route). However, what I worry about is my letdown to pattern
altitude at the destination airport as well as departure. Short of
filing IFR (which carries with it Oxygen requirements for some local
MEAs) what other strategies do you all use? Any "systems" or
tricks to share, or is it pretty much just look at the sectional and
make a plan?

--Dan

Dan wrote:
My early years of flying were spent in the Midwest where as long as you
were over 2000 MSL, there were very few obstacles to hit and no
terrain. Now that I have moved out West (Phoenix) I am increasingly
paranoid about hitting terrain at night.

Choosing a cruise altitude is easy (well above anything even close to
your route). However, what I worry about is my letdown to pattern
altitude at the destination airport as well as departure. Short of
filing IFR (which carries with it Oxygen requirements for some local
MEAs) what other strategies do you all use? Any "systems" or
tricks to share, or is it pretty much just look at the sectional and
make a plan?

--Dan

EGPWS?

Kidding.

I live in flatland, so I'm just thinking here, but I'm thinking you
could just take a look at the instrument approaches for the airports.
Take a look at the altitudes listed on the charts, stay above, and you
should be fine.

"Dan" wrote in message
ups.com...
My early years of flying were spent in the Midwest where as long as you
were over 2000 MSL, there were very few obstacles to hit and no
terrain. Now that I have moved out West (Phoenix) I am increasingly
paranoid about hitting terrain at night.

Choosing a cruise altitude is easy (well above anything even close to
your route). However, what I worry about is my letdown to pattern
altitude at the destination airport as well as departure. Short of
filing IFR (which carries with it Oxygen requirements for some local
MEAs) what other strategies do you all use? Any "systems" or
tricks to share, or is it pretty much just look at the sectional and
make a plan?

--Dan


Hi Dan,

Welcome to the area! At which airport are you based?

Jay Beckman
Chandler

Dan wrote:

My early years of flying were spent in the Midwest where as long as you
were over 2000 MSL, there were very few obstacles to hit and no
terrain. Now that I have moved out West (Phoenix) I am increasingly
paranoid about hitting terrain at night.

Choosing a cruise altitude is easy (well above anything even close to
your route). However, what I worry about is my letdown to pattern
altitude at the destination airport as well as departure. Short of
filing IFR (which carries with it Oxygen requirements for some local
MEAs) what other strategies do you all use? Any "systems" or
tricks to share, or is it pretty much just look at the sectional and
make a plan?

I tend to fly IFR at night so you can always fly a full approach if you
are really concerned. Often the light is good enough that you can still
see the mountains and other such obstacles. Study the sectional well
and know where the obstacles are located and you should be find.

Matt

On 12 Sep 2006 17:16:19 -0700, "Dan" wrote in
. com:

what other strategies do you all use?

Choose a night with a full moon and clear skies.

what other strategies do you all use?

Stay in bed.

Ron Lee

Dan writes:

My early years of flying were spent in the Midwest where as long as you
were over 2000 MSL, there were very few obstacles to hit and no
terrain. Now that I have moved out West (Phoenix) I am increasingly
paranoid about hitting terrain at night.

Choosing a cruise altitude is easy (well above anything even close to
your route). However, what I worry about is my letdown to pattern
altitude at the destination airport as well as departure. Short of
filing IFR (which carries with it Oxygen requirements for some local
MEAs) what other strategies do you all use? Any "systems" or
tricks to share, or is it pretty much just look at the sectional and
make a plan?

In the area around Phoenix these days, anything that isn't covered
with lights is likely to be a mountain, as I think that steep
mountainsides are the only spots left that aren't covered with
buildings and homes. The valley itself is quite flat, but it is
filled with traffic around the 12th-busiest airport in the world, and
the mountains rise rapidly around it. The terrain is flatter to the
southeast (Mesa, et al.) and southwest (towards Gila Bend), but there
are still mountains to contend with--flatter terrain is beyond. To
the north, the mountains don't let up much after you leave Phoenix.
South Mountain and its range to the south has large radio antennas
that help to mark the highest elevations.

KPHX is above 1135 feet, so 2000 MSL wouldn't give you much margin in
the valley and it will place you within terrain in many of the
surrounding mountains. I think 6000 MSL would clear most of the
mountains surrounding the valley, but I won't swear to it.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Short of
filing IFR (which carries with it Oxygen requirements for some local
MEAs) what other strategies do you all use? Any "systems" or
tricks to share, or is it pretty much just look at the sectional and
make a plan?

Study the sectional, look for obstructions and terrain. If there's a
terminal area chart I look at that too. Read the comments in the AF/D
and on airnav about the airport in question. Stay high until you are
sure of the terrain. Fly a standard pattern (though in some places that
can put you pretty close to some obstructions - consider the approach to
26 at DXR). If in doubt, fly an instrument approach (but even those are
visual in the end)

Most airports are fine around the pattern, the oddball ones are often
evident by their lay on the sectional and the comments in the AF/D.

I copy relevant comments to my flight log to have them available to me
before approach (to remind me).

Jose
--
There are more ways to skin a cat than there are cats.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

"Dan" wrote:
Choosing a cruise altitude is easy (well above anything even close to
your route). However, what I worry about is my letdown to pattern
altitude at the destination airport as well as departure. Short of
filing IFR (which carries with it Oxygen requirements for some local
MEAs) what other strategies do you all use? Any "systems" or
tricks to share, or is it pretty much just look at the sectional and
make a plan?

Instrument procedures and airways are designed to keep you from hitting
terrain when you can't see it. If you can't see the terrain at night,
flying the instrument procedures seems like a perfectly reasonable way to
avoid hitting things.

You don't have to file IFR to fly an airway at a VFR altitude at or above
the MEA. If you've got GPS, flying the MOCA may get you lower than the MEA
but still above anything solid. Likewise, there's no reason you can't fly
an instrument approach while VFR.

Jay,

I'm a member of Phoenix Flyers, 2 planes at DVT and 2 at CHD. I fly
out of both.

--Dan


Jay Beckman wrote:
"Dan" wrote in message
ups.com...
My early years of flying were spent in the Midwest where as long as you
were over 2000 MSL, there were very few obstacles to hit and no
terrain. Now that I have moved out West (Phoenix) I am increasingly
paranoid about hitting terrain at night.

Choosing a cruise altitude is easy (well above anything even close to
your route). However, what I worry about is my letdown to pattern
altitude at the destination airport as well as departure. Short of
filing IFR (which carries with it Oxygen requirements for some local
MEAs) what other strategies do you all use? Any "systems" or
tricks to share, or is it pretty much just look at the sectional and
make a plan?

--Dan


Hi Dan,

Welcome to the area! At which airport are you based?

Jay Beckman
Chandler