AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2015 - 14

LETTERS
Proficient Pilot

Silent night

BY BarrY Schiff

Sorry, I'm not going along on that flight

bArry schIff

has been an
active certificated
flight instructor
since he was
18 years old.

During a recent gathering of local pilots, some
were surprised to learn that I rarely fly cross-country at night in single-engine airplanes. This has not
always been the case. When I was younger and bolder,
I used to fly singles all over the mountains and deserts
of the Southwest at night without giving it a second
thought. Ignorance was bliss. But as I became older-
and hopefully wiser-the notion of an engine failure
at night created more concern. Single-engine, crosscountry flying at night became a risk I no longer am
willing to accept.
The seminal event that began to temper my
single-engine night flying occurred some years ago
when a good friend called to ask if I would give him a
flight review in his Bonanza that evening.
"Why tonight?" I asked. "How about tomorrow?"
"Well," he explained, embarrassed, "my currency
expires tonight, and I have a passenger flight tomorrow. Tonight is all I have."
Why not conduct a flight review at night, I thought.
Nothing says that it has to be done during the day. So
I agreed.
Toward the end of that night flight and as is my
custom, I pulled back the throttle and dutifully proclaimed, "Engine failure!"
My friend began the drill with poise and polish, as
if he had been waiting for the moment. He established
and held the airplane's best glide speed, simulated an
attempt to restart the engine, and continued looking
for a place to land. (We were beyond gliding distance
of any airport.)
"Hey, Barry," he announced with frustration, "I
have no idea where to put this thing. Do you have any
ideas?"
I had to admit that I didn't have a clue either. In
the meantime, the hands of the altimeter continued to
unwind toward the darkness below. I was reminded
of the humorous adage about turning on your landing
lights when about to make a forced landing at night and
then turning them off again if you don't like what you
see. It's not so funny, though, when it could be for real.
Discretion being the better part of valor, I advanced
the throttle and said, "Exercise over. Let's go back."
Driving home that night, I thought more about how
challenging it would be to cope with a total engine failure in a single at night. I asked myself, again, where
would we have landed tonight had the engine actually

failed? I honestly didn't know. Survival would have
rested more in the hands of fate than it would have
been the result of skill and cunning.
The likelihood of a total engine failure at any time
is obviously remote. The vast majority of pilots have
never had an engine failure, and likely never will.
The more experience we have without having had
an engine failure, however, the more reliant on the
engine we become. We tend to become isolated from
the suggestion of an engine failure, a form of complacency. The trouble is, engine failures do occur, and
should one happen to you, the probability of such an
event leaps from remotely possible to 100 percent. I've
had three, and that might explain why I am more sensitive to the thought of an engine failure than those
who have not had the pleasure. One of those was a
sudden, catastrophic failure caused by a thrown piston rod (thankfully during the day).
Most of us have been trained to assess the terrain
when making cross-country flights in single-engine
airplanes during daylight hours. We have been taught
to have some sense of where we would attempt to land
in the event of an engine failure. There is almost always
someplace to go, some area where it might be reasonable to attempt a forced landing.
Such training, however, is of little value at night
for the obvious reason that there might be no terrain
to see. Night flyers must be resigned to accept this
added risk.
So where should a pilot head in the event of sudden engine silence at night? Many suggest heading
for a dark area, the theory being that it is likely undeveloped and, therefore, reasonably and hopefully flat.
Others suggest attempting to land in a developed area
so that lights there might be used to avoid clobbering
manmade obstacles. An illuminated area might help
to make it possible to for a pilot to point his aircraft
in the least threatening direction.
Frankly, I prefer to avoid the possibility of having to make such consequential decisions, and I do
this by not flying at night. Does this mean that I am
critical of those who do fly cross-country in singleengine airplanes at night? Of course not. I just hope
that they forgive me for turning down their invitation
to go along.
AOPA
WeB

"I think you have forgotten the purpose of
AOPA in your article 'Silent Night.' The purpose at AOPA is to promote safe aviation,
not stifle it. With the logic employed in your
article you may as well never take a bath,
either. You may slip and hurt yourself getting into the tub. Any flying involves risks."
John Lehman
AOPA 4624797
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

www.barryschiff.com

18 | AOPA PILOT December 2014

Silent night

HANGAR TALK

Night flying is perfectly safe
and has been for 20 years.
Nearly every night of the week
there is a National Guard aircrew out flying at night with
absolute confidence of making a suitable forced landing
area in the event of an in-flight
emergency. Using night vision
goggles (NVG) we can operate
in near total darkness and see
details as small as deer eyes at
100 yards. Flying NVG-aided is
frankly safer than daytime VFR
because strobes really stand
out and you see them for miles.
Instead of thinking that night
is not a time for aviating, it

14 | AOPA PILOT February 2015

seems to me that AOPA should
be advocating for civilian NVG
standards among GA pilots.
Once you fly with them you
won't want to fly without them.
Todd Fredricks
AOPA 1410586
Amesville, Ohio

For more than 50 years I have
been looking forward to each
issue of AOPA Pilot. The articles by Barry Schiff are the
first I read and "Proficient
Pilot: Silent Night" was no
exception. I always find at
least one pearl from his wellthought-out and well-written
articles.Flying at night in single-engine airplanes has had

much discussion and his
thoughts bear serious consideration. I also will add another
flying adage to my collection:
"Turn on your landing lights
when about to make a forced
landing at night and then turn
them off again if you don't like
what you see." Funny, possibly,
but food for thought.
Edwin Hatch
AOPA 251982
Villa Rica, Georgia

Collect your reward

I e n j oye d To m Ha i n e s '
"Waypoints" column, and I
agree fully with the importance
of continual aviation challenges
to foster aircrew development. I

do, however, disagree with the
statement that differences
between photo formation flying and military formation
make the latter less difficult
than the former. Military formation flying encompasses more
than the basic parade position
often seen at airshows, in photos, and during departure and
recovery. Take for instance, a
four-ship night IMC tanker
join and NVG refuel. That
is military formation flying,
conducted close aboard, culminating by touching another
airplane. This does not compare
to a day, VFR, "good deal" photo
op. I assume Haines was comparing a military-style parade
position to the photo op evolution. This makes the most sense.
A more specific or detailed comparison would have prevented
misinterpretation.
Tyler Sanders
AOPA 7025873
Pine Knoll Shores, North Carolina
We welcome your comments.
Editor, AOPA Pilot, 421 Aviation Way, Frederick, Maryland
21701 or email (pilot@aopa.
org). Letters may be edited
for length and style before
publication.

Adventure and exploration are intrinsic
in flying, but when you add
seaplanes, tropical islands, friends,
sunshine, a deep blue ocean (and some
really big fish) the excitement factor
goes through the roof. Senior
Editor DAVE HIRSCHMAN and Photographer CHRIS ROSE joined a group of
fellow pilots on a dive trip to the
Bahamas (see "FRESH CATCH," page
50). And even though they didn't
come back with any lobster tails, they
brought an aviation tale. "Flying over
the Bahamas is a joy at any altitude,"
Hirschman says. "But from the up-close
perspective of a seaplane, it overloads
your senses." Thanks to Gary Lickle for
taking AOPA along on a trip that's well
within reach for GA aircraft.

http://www.barryschiff.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2015