As one relatively well know YouTube-er has said, "Night VFR isn't a thing - if you're flying at night you're flying on instruments".
I live in far far far far west Texas (Marfa). It's beautiful to fly out here. I have 70+ hours and working on my license.
The instructor that my flying partner and I fly in to train us told us right up front that he doesn't do night flying. Now I'm getting closer to wrapping up my PPL and I'm trying to figure out how to get my night flying done.
When there is a full moon out here - you could read a book in the moonlight. But it's so remote that it's very dark in every direction. I'm sure I can sort something out in El Paso, or Midland, but I'm just think about what I would prefer if I have a choice.
It's the high desert here and KMRF has elevation of 4,850' and is surrounded by mountains up to around 6,500'.
I could fly KMRF to KVHN (57NM) and it doesn't involve flying over mountains...AND there is a road directly between the two. But it's so dark and the road is so lightly traveled (especially at night) that it would be very difficult to see.
That said - maybe with the strong moonlight it would be easy to see the road! I don't know.
Obviously the concern is losing an engine at night and trying to put it down somewhere.
A place like Odessa Midland is more lit up at night, but I'm not sure if that's necessarily better.
How do you think about that? What should I be looking for to do this cross country night flight leg (with instruction)?
Thanks!
I live in far far far far west Texas (Marfa). It's beautiful to fly out here. I have 70+ hours and working on my license.
The instructor that my flying partner and I fly in to train us told us right up front that he doesn't do night flying. Now I'm getting closer to wrapping up my PPL and I'm trying to figure out how to get my night flying done.
When there is a full moon out here - you could read a book in the moonlight. But it's so remote that it's very dark in every direction. I'm sure I can sort something out in El Paso, or Midland, but I'm just think about what I would prefer if I have a choice.
It's the high desert here and KMRF has elevation of 4,850' and is surrounded by mountains up to around 6,500'.
I could fly KMRF to KVHN (57NM) and it doesn't involve flying over mountains...AND there is a road directly between the two. But it's so dark and the road is so lightly traveled (especially at night) that it would be very difficult to see.
That said - maybe with the strong moonlight it would be easy to see the road! I don't know.
Obviously the concern is losing an engine at night and trying to put it down somewhere.
A place like Odessa Midland is more lit up at night, but I'm not sure if that's necessarily better.
How do you think about that? What should I be looking for to do this cross country night flight leg (with instruction)?
Thanks!
