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607 VR

This lesson covers night flight operations away from and within an airport. When flying at night, pilots must rely more on instruments due to reduced visibility. Airport lighting aids navigation, with a rotating beacon visible from miles away. Runways are lit with white, green, and red lights along the edges and thresholds. Additional lighting like PAPIs help pilots maintain the proper glide slope for landing. Pilots should be aware of night visual illusions like false horizons and black hole effects, and reference instruments. Strobe, beacon, and navigation lights help make aircraft visible to others at night.

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31 views5 pages

607 VR

This lesson covers night flight operations away from and within an airport. When flying at night, pilots must rely more on instruments due to reduced visibility. Airport lighting aids navigation, with a rotating beacon visible from miles away. Runways are lit with white, green, and red lights along the edges and thresholds. Additional lighting like PAPIs help pilots maintain the proper glide slope for landing. Pilots should be aware of night visual illusions like false horizons and black hole effects, and reference instruments. Strobe, beacon, and navigation lights help make aircraft visible to others at night.

Uploaded by

Georgian
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Lesson 607

Night Operations (Part 2)

Overview
This lesson will cover the factors to consider when operating an aircraft at night
away from the airport and in the traffic pattern.

Briefing
When flying at night, whether away from the airport or in the traffic pattern,
there are extra precautions to take to operate the aircraft safely. With an
obscured or no visible horizon, flight instruments have to be referenced more
than usual to overcome visual illusions or spatial disorientation. Ground lighting
will be important for navigation, and airport lighting will be important for finding
the airport and landing.

Visual Illusions
Flying at night can subject the pilot to visual illusions that do not occur during
the day. These illusions can include false horizons, black hole approaches and
runway lighting illusions.

False horizons occur when a sloping cloud formation or straight row of lights
appear to be the horizon. A pilot may attempt to orient the aircraft to this false
horizon and put the aircraft into an unusual flight attitude. Constantly scanning
the flight instruments will help prevent the pilot from orienting the aircraft to
false horizons.

Black hole approaches occur when the aircraft is approaching a runway where
there is no lighting in the area other than the runway/airport lights. The terrain
around the airport will appear black and featureless. This illusion can cause the
pilot to think that the aircraft is higher than it actually is, and result in a low and
potentially unsafe approach path. Reference the flight instruments to overcome
this illusion.

Airport Lighting
Areas of the airport are lighted in different ways to help distinguish them from
others. This briefing will describe the lighting relevant to an aircraft in-flight;
reference Lesson 605 for information on taxiway and ground lighting.

The most prominent airport light is the rotating beacon (Figure 607-1). These
beacons can be seen from miles away and help guide aircraft to the airport.

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Different types of airports have different colored beacons:

Type of Beacon Colors


Airport
Civilian Land White/Green
Water White/Yellow
Heliport White/Yellow/Green
Military White/White/Green

Figure 607-1: Airport Beacon

After locating the airport by the rotating beacon, look for runway lighting. When
a control tower is in operation, the runway lighting is automatically controlled by
the tower. If there is no tower, or the tower is closed, the lighting must be
turned on by the pilot. To do so, key the radio microphone 7 times in 5 seconds
to turn on high intensity lighting. To dim the lighting, key the mike 5 times to set
a medium intensity or 3 times for low intensity.

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Runways will be lit with white lights along the edges, centerline, and/or within
the runway. The threshold will be lit with a row of green lights and the end of
the runway will have a row of red lights. Figure 607-2 illustrates a lit runway’s
appearance during approach and landing.

Figure 607-2: Runway During Approach and Landing

Some runways may be equipped with Runway End Identifier Lights (REIL’s).
REIL’s are a pair of strobe lights located on either side of the runway threshold
to help identify the beginning of a runway.

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Visual Approach Slope Indicators (VASI’s) or Precision Approach Path Indicators
(PAPI’s) may also be present alongside the runway to aid the pilot in maintaining
a constant glide slope to the runway. These aids can be particularly important at
night to help overcome visual illusions and guide the aircraft in low-light
conditions.

VASI’s are two pairs of lights, one behind the other, that will appear white if the
aircraft is too high, red if the aircraft is too low, or white/red if the aircraft is on a
safe glide slope (Figure 607-3).

Figure 607-3: VASI’s

PAPI’s are a row of four lights that will also display white if too high, or red if too
low (Figure 607-4).

Figure 607-4: PAPI’s

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Aircraft Lighting
At night, the beacon, strobes, and NAV lights (Figure 607-5) should all always be
on to make the aircraft more visible to other aircraft when airborne. When
operating in congested areas, turn on the taxi and landing lights on to increase
visibility. These lights will also help illuminate the runway when coming in for
landing.

Figure 607-5: NAV Lights

On this flight, you will practice maneuvering at night away from the airport
before flying back to the airport and land. Trust your flight instruments especially
when there is no discernible horizon, be aware of visual illusions and their
effects, and reference airport lighting to find the airport and land.

End of Briefing

Return to Lesson 607

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