Who has a night rating?

Of course, the automatic-engine-roughner also comes into force
at night.

Paul

"Kyler Laird" wrote in message
...
I won't try to argue that it
makes perfect sense, but when *the* engine gets rough at night, I get
anxious.

"Marc Lattoni" wrote in message news:iYx1c.129200$Hy3.3305@edtnps89...
It seems interesting that in Canada we learn to recover from spins and in
the US pilots learn to fly at night. (not to mention chandelles etc).

Wonder if one set of skills is preferable or whether pilots should learn
both.

In the US we used to require spins before we figured out that more
students died with their CFI practicing them than actually ran into
problems. There are not enough CFIs out there that are qualified to
demo spins.

I do all most all of my night flying IFR. Personally, any night flight
out of the local area is IFR. I've lost one good friend who hit the
ground by accident at night (ref: NTSB N80720).
-Robert

"Robert M. Gary" wrote:

There are not enough CFIs out there that are qualified to demo spins.

I thought every CFI has to be able to demonstrate spins for the checkride?

George Patterson
A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that
you look forward to the trip.

('Vejita' S. Cousin) wrote in message ...
In article Kmw1c.128621$Hy3.30256@edtnps89,
Marc Lattoni wrote:
As a VFR only pilot, I thought it pointless to get a night rating due to the
potential difficulties of encountering a "black hole" and not having the
skills to get back to safety. But our flight school encourages us to
experience the beauty of night flying on clear nights.

Just wondering, how many VFR only pilots have and USE a night rating?

In the US private pilots can fly at night with a 'standard issue'
certificate. I use to do a lot of night flying right after I got my
certificate but not as much lately. I fly from KBFI (Boeing Field in
Seattle, WA). I never really had any problems save for take offs from
isolated fields (ie. no real horizon with nose up).
ATC was a lot more friendly, the air is really smooth, and it's just
all around more enjoyable to fly at night IMHO. Maybe if I was flying in
North Dakota or someplace that was all flat, all dark and moonless it
would be a different story

I did a lot of night flying in New Mexico, and it is not all that
different from flying in populated areas. A partial moon or even star
light is enough to see the ground. If you turn off all the cockpit and
panel lights wait for a few minutes, you will be amazed at what you
can see.

"Marc Lattoni" wrote
As a VFR only pilot, I thought it pointless to get a night rating due to the
potential difficulties of encountering a "black hole" and not having the
skills to get back to safety.

Doesn't your night rating include several hours of instrument
training? That's what it's for. If it doesn't then get it anyway.
Flting at night without the ability to maintain control on instruments
is just foolhardy, IMO.

Just wondering, how many VFR only pilots have and USE a night rating?

In the US, it comes with the basic private license. Of course so does
some minimal instrument training. I think I had about 150 hours at
night (out of about 700 total) before I got an instrument rating.
Proabbly 20 of those were in "black hole" conditions - legally VFR but
no horizon.

Michael

"Paul Sengupta" wrote in message
...
Of course, the automatic-engine-roughner also comes into force
at night.

Paul

And when you cross the Channel

Of course, the automatic-engine-roughner also comes into force
at night.

And when you cross the Channel

And Lake Michigan...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article iYx1c.129200$Hy3.3305@edtnps89,
Marc Lattoni wrote:
It seems interesting that in Canada we learn to recover from spins and in
the US pilots learn to fly at night. (not to mention chandelles etc).

Wonder if one set of skills is preferable or whether pilots should learn
both.

The uS stopped requiring spin training a while ago. Instead they teach
spin avoidance and stalls. I personally think that this is a bad thing.
Like most new pilots I was 'scaried' of stalls so i went and got some
aerobatic training. I learned that spins are no big deal. First it's
fairly hard to spin a 152, but know I know what it takes to ACTUALLY enter
a spin, no quessing/thinking that I might be close. And while it's true
that if you don't stall you can't spin it's nice to have 'real world' exp
on what happens and how to recover.
As for flying at night, I'm not sure. I really like it but the stats
show more fatal accidents happen at night.

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message ...
"Robert M. Gary" wrote:

There are not enough CFIs out there that are qualified to demo spins.

I thought every CFI has to be able to demonstrate spins for the checkride?

yes, but that does not make them safe to teach them. I did all mine inverted in a D!
-Robert, CFI

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
om...

I do all most all of my night flying IFR. Personally, any night flight
out of the local area is IFR. I've lost one good friend who hit the
ground by accident at night (ref: NTSB N80720).

Unfortunately the Commercial certificate makes you take at least one night
cross-country VFR. Is that inadvertently instilling bad habits? :-) Even
more annoying, you have to bring along some CFI-ballast.

(I did mine Tuesday; it was a nice night around here).

-- David Brooks