← The Saudi aviation reference, in one place.
FAA Safety Briefing - Jan-Feb 2025
Reproduced for study. Always verify against the official GACAR at gaca.gov.sa.
January/February 2025 1
January/February 2025
Into the Night
Into the Night
9 Y our Senses in
the Shadows16 A New Look for
Night Lights18 Developing Y our
Night Flight Plan
2 FAA Safety BriefingU.S. Department
of Transportation
Federal Aviation
Administration
ISSN: 1057-9648
FAA Safety BriefingJanuary/February 2025Volume 66/Number 1
Pete Buttigieg Secretary of Transportation
Michael Whitaker Administrator
David Boulter Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety
Larry Fields Executive Director, Flight Standards ServiceTom Hoffmann Editor
James Williams Associate Editor / Photo Editor
Rebekah Waters Associate Editor
Nicole Hartman Associate Editor
Paul Cianciolo Associate Editor / Social Media
Jamie Harvey Art Director
Published six times a year, FAA Safety Briefing, formerly
FAA Aviation News, promotes aviation safety by discussing current technical,
regulatory, and procedural aspects affecting the safe operation and maintenance of aircraft. Although based on current FAA policy and rule interpretations, all material is advisory or informational in nature and should not be construed to have regulatory effect. Certain details of accidents described herein may have been altered to protect the privacy of those involved.
The FAA does not officially endorse any goods, services, materials, or products of
manufacturers that may be referred to in an article. All brands, product names, company names, trademarks, and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
The Office of Management and Budget has approved the use
of public funds for printing FAA Safety Briefing.
bit.ly/m/FAASB
www.faa.gov/Safety_BriefingABOUT THIS ISSUE…
The January/February 2025 issue of
FAA Safety Briefing focuses on general aviation night operations. Feature articles cover what’s required for night flight, how to mitigate visual illusions, and pro tips for overcoming your fear of the dark.
Contact Information
The magazine is available on the internet at:
www.faa.gov/safety_briefing
Comments or questions should be directed to the staff by:
• Emailing: SafetyBriefing@faa.gov
• Calling: (202) 267-1100
• Tweeting: @FAASafetyBrief
Subscription Information
The Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office sells FAA Safety Briefing on subscription and mails up to four renewal notices.
For New Orders:
Subscribe via the internet at https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/faa-safety-briefing ,
telephone (202) 512-1800 or toll-free 1-866-512-1800, or use the self-mailer form in the center of this magazine and send to Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office, Washington, DC, 20402-9371.
Subscription Problems/Change of Address:
Send your mailing label with your comments/request to Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office, Contact Center, Washington, DC 20408-9375. You can also call (202) 512-1800 or 1-866-512-1800 and ask for Customer Service, or fax your information to (202) 512-2104.
The FAA Safety Policy Voice of Non-commercial General Aviation
6Vampire Rules
What You Need to Fly at Night
9Your Senses in the ShadowsNighttime Visual Illusions and Spatial Disorientation
14A New Look for Night Lights
An Update On the FAA’s Approach Lighting LED Migration Plan
18 Developing Your Night Flight Plan
A Guide to Avoid Things That Go Bump in the Night
22 Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
Practice, Preparation, and Proficiency for Safe and Enjoyable Night Flights
26 The Path to Unleaded Avgas — A Critical Transition for Aviation
Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions (EAGLE)
Fall 2024 Update
DEPARTMENTS
2 Jumpseat: an executive policy
perspective
3 ATIS: GA news and current events
5 Aeromedical Advisory: a checkup on
all things aeromedical
27 Checklist: FAA resources and
safety reminders
28 Drone Debrief: drone safety roundup
29 Nuts , Bolts, and Electrons:
GA maintenance issues
30 Vertically Speaking: safety issues for
rotorcraft pilots
31 Flight Forum: letters from the
Safety Briefing mailbag
32 O n Final: an editor's perspective
Inside back cover
FAA Faces: FAA employee profile
LARRY FIELDS, FLIGHT STANDARDS SERVICE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
THE ART OF NIGHT FLIGHT
Welcome to our first issue of 2025!
As we embark on a brand-new year,
it’s the perfect time to reflect on our
recent accomplishments and identify
a few areas to improve or challenge
ourselves with in the months ahead. Some may look to improve their
health or read more, while others
might resolve to spend more time with family and friends. All are noble
pursuits worthy of some renewed
focus. Pilots may also endeavor to
have a separate set of resolutions
for the new year; maybe it’s flying a different aircraft, knocking the rust
off your instrument approaches, or
perhaps focusing on the subject of this issue, night flying.
I’m sure most pilots would agree
with the many endearing features of
dusk-to-dawn flight — calmer air,
quieter frequencies, better perfor -
mance, and the tranquility that only
soaring over moonlit landscapes can
offer. But night flying is not without
risk. As you’ll read in these pages,
night flight represents a small per -
centage of total flying hours but has a
significant number of incidents and/or
accidents. Much of that is due to a loss of visual cues pilots use to navigate
and maintain the orientation of their
aircraft, especially with no moonlight
or city lights to help guide them.
Given the smaller margins for error
that come with flying in the dark, pilots need to keep their skills sharp
by staying both current and profi-cient. Y ou also need to be aware of the
rules and regulations for night flying
that apply to both the pilot and the
plane. Y ou can navigate through many
of these regulations in the article “Vampire Rules: What Y ou Need to
Fly at Night, ” so you’ll have everything
you need to know about being legal and safe when traversing through the dark.
As we highlighted in last
year’s instrument flying
issue, pilots are prone to
several illusions while flying without reference to a
horizon, many of which can
have deadly consequences if not properly mitigated.
Nighttime operations offer
many of the same dangers,
along with some optical
illusions that can completely disorient a pilot and com-
promise safety. We unravel
the mystery of many of these illusions in the article “Y our
Senses in the Shadows” and
provide a few solid strategies
to keep these misleading
manifestations at bay.
Helping to literally shed
light on the dangers of darkness is the advent of
LED technology. LED lights
provide a host of benefits including increased reliability, lower
costs, and more accurate color. Y ou
may have noticed the more brilliant glow of LEDs used in some areas of
airfield lighting, and soon you’ll see
them lighting the way in hundreds of
approach lighting systems across the
nation. Get more illuminated on the benefits of LEDs in the article “ A New
Look at Night Lights. ”
With the loss of visual cues and
terrain visibility at night comes the increased risk of controlled flight
into terrain (CFIT) accidents. While
extremely deadly, these accidents
are also very avoidable with proper planning and preparation. For tools
and tips on how to “avoid things
that go bump in the night, ” be sure to read “Developing Y our Night
Flight Plan. ”
While night flying does have some
added risks, there’s a tremendous upside to cruising the night sky. In the
article “Who’s Afraid of the Dark?, ”
we talked to a few experts to get some
night insight on the many benefits this type of flying offers, as well as
some takeaways that can help calm
any nocturnal nerves.
We hope these articles offer some
helpful guidance and inspiration to those pilots who wish to embrace
or reconnect with the joy of night
flight. With the proper precautions, taking a leap back into the dark can be
extremely rewarding and enjoyable.
Safe flying, and here’s to a safe and
successful 2025!
2 FAA Safety Briefing
JUMPSEATan executive policy perspective
#FLYSAFE GA SAFETY ENHANCEMENT TOPICS Please visit bit.ly/FlySafeMedium for more information on these and other topics.
JANUARY
Safety Culture –
Exploring the many benefits
of a strong safety culture in aviation.
FEBRUARY
Survival –
How training and planning before flight can improve a pilot’s chances of survival after an accident/incident.
ATISGA news and current events
AVIATION NEWS ROUNDUP
New Rule for Public Aircraft
The FAA recently published a final
rule that allows pilots conducting
public aircraft operations to credit
their flight time towards FAA civil
regulatory requirements. Additionally,
consistent with the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act
for Fiscal Y ear 2023, this final rule
amends the operating rules for exper -
imental aircraft to permit certain
flight training, testing, and checking
in these aircraft without a letter of
deviation authority. As directed in the
FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, the same relief will be extended to certain
flight training, testing, and checking
in limited category, primary category, and experimental light sport aircraft.
This final rule also revises miscella-
neous amendments related to recent
flight experience, flight instructor
privileges, flight training in certain aircraft holding special airworthiness
certificates, and the related prohibi-
tions on conducting these activities
for compensation or hire.
Y ou can review the final rule at
federalregister.gov/d/2024-22009.
FAA Completes Framework for
Air Taxis
The FAA is ready for powered lift,
the first completely new category of civil aircraft since helicopters were
introduced in the 1940s. Powered lift
operations include air taxis, cargo
delivery, and a variety of operations
within urban and rural areas.
The agency issued a final rule for
the qualifications and training that instructors and pilots must have
to fly aircraft in this “powered-lift”
category, which has characteristics of both airplanes and helicopters. The
rule also addresses their operational
requirements, including minimum safe altitudes and required visibility.
The rule is the final piece in the puzzle
for safely introducing these aircraft
in the near term. The opportunities
for the use of powered lift operations are far-reaching. They range from
transporting passengers in urban areas
and short-haul operations, such as air ambulance services and cargo oper -
ations, to potentially serving smaller communities over time.
For more information, read the
Medium blog article at bit.ly/48pnO8j and visit the advanced air mobility webpage at faa.gov/air-taxis.
Verticon 2025
Formerly HAI Heli-Expo, Verticon
2025, the world's largest vertical avi-ation conference and trade show, will
be held March 10-13 in Dallas. The
event will feature 125-plus education
courses and safety sessions and provide
networking opportunities with 15,000 industry professionals and more than
600 exhibitors. For additional informa-
tion, visit verticon.org .
FAA Publishes Rule Removing CFI Expiration Dates
The FAA published a final rule
eliminating expiration dates on flight instructor certificates, replacing them
with recent experience requirements
every 24 calendar months. Removing
the expiration date on certificates
increases efficiency, cuts costs, and aligns instructor certificates with other
airman certificates, such as private and
commercial, which do not expire.
Under the new rule, instructors
must still renew their certificates every 24 calendar months by com-
pleting a flight instructor refresher
clinic (FIRC), obtaining an additional instructor certificate, or engaging
in further instructional activities.
Additional activities must include
4 FAA Safety Briefing
ATIS GA news and current events“at least 15 flight activities recog-
nized under the FAA-sponsored pilot
proficiency program, ” during which
the flight instructor evaluates at least
five different pilots and makes the
required endorsements in each pilot's logbook for every activity. The rule
also specifies that flight instructors
who endorse at least five applicants for a practical test within 24 calendar
months who maintain an 80% pass
rate can also utilize this provision to
renew their certificates.
The FAA estimates that the rule will
result in $5.6 million in cost savings for both the FAA and the industry over
five years. Y ou can review the final rule
at federalregister.gov/d/2024-22018.
New Video Reviews Line Up
and Wait
In case you missed the article “Please
Wait Y our Turn” in the Sep/Oct 2024
issue, the line up and wait instruction
is used by air traffic control (ATC) to
inform a pilot to taxi onto the depar -
ture runway to line up and wait. It
is not authorization for takeoff. So,
why do pilots depart when they are
instructed to line up and wait? The answer lies in a variety of human
factors that can lead pilots to mistak-
enly depart. A recent From the Flight
Deck video explores some real-life
events and discusses the factors that contribute to an unauthorized takeoff
roll when a pilot is instructed to line
up and wait. See this and past videos at faa.gov/flight_deck.
FAA Hits Air Traffic Controller
Hiring Goal
The FAA exceeded its goal of hiring
1,800 air traffic controllers in 2024, with a final total of 1,811 for fiscal
year 2024. As the largest number of
hires in nearly a decade, this marks important progress in the FAA ’s work
to reverse the decades-long air traffic
controller staffing level decline.
The FAA currently has more
than 14,000 air traffic controllers. With this year’s addition, there are
now around 3,400 controllers in
various stages of training, ranging from initial instruction at the FAA
Academy in Oklahoma City to spe-
cialized airspace training for posi-
tions at one of the FAA ’s hundreds of
air traffic facilities.
To help the agency meet its hiring
goal, the FAA continuously recruits controllers with prior air traffic
experience from the military and
private industry.
FAA Updates BasicMed Program
The FAA updated its BasicMed regu-
lations to allow pilots to operate larger
aircraft and carry more passengers. BasicMed, which took effect in 2017,
allows pilots to fly without holding an
FAA medical certificate provided they meet certain conditions.
The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 required the FAA to expand BasicMed to:
• Increase the number of allowable passengers to six from five, and
the number of occupants to seven
from six.
• Increase the maximum aircraft takeoff weight to 12,500 pounds
from 6,000 pounds, excluding
transport category helicopters.
• Allow pilot examiners to conduct flight checks using BasicMed in
aircraft that are covered by the
BasicMed rule.
Pilots must meet specific condi-
tions to operate under BasicMed.
Among other things, they must have
held a valid medical certificate at some point after July 14, 2006; the
most recent medical certificate cannot
have been denied, revoked, or sus-pended; they must complete a medical
exam by a state-licensed physician;
they must complete an online medical
education course; and they must hold
a valid U.S. driver’s license.
BasicMed also includes certain
limitations, including that pilots cannot fly for compensation or hire
and are restricted to flying at or
below 18,000 feet altitude and at a speed no greater than 250 knots.
Learn more at bit.ly/3ObJprC.
AMEs Can Issue a Medical
Certificate After a DUI
It is possible for an aviation medical
examiner (AME) to issue your medical
certificate with a history of DUI under certain circumstances. For example,
if you previously reported a DUI on
MedXPress and there have been no
new events and you don’t require any
kind of monitoring as documented in a letter from the FAA, the AME can issue
your certificate. Federal Air Surgeon
Dr. Susan Northrop explains more about the path to certification after a
DUI and the information required for
a pilot to submit in this recent episode
of the Pilot Minute video series. To
watch this and other videos, visit
bit.ly/FAAPilotMinute .
AEROMEDICAL ADVISORYa checkup on all things aeromedical
DR. SUSAN NORTHRUP , FAA FEDERAL AIR SURGEON
THE THREE “E” APPROACH — EDUCATE, EARLY INTERVENTION,
AND THE EVOLUTION OF STANDARDS
I would like to take the opportunity
to outline our 2025 goals in the FAA
Office of Aerospace Medicine. Some are
concrete and easily measurable; others
are aspirational but just as important.
Recall from the previous issue that we are concerned about both sudden and
subtle incapacitation; we must not only
consider you the pilot, but society at large. When we can assure ourselves
that the risk is acceptable, then we can
issue a medical certificate.
My goals include:
• In support of the Air Traffic
Organization’s air traffic control
specialist (ATCS) hiring goal to
reduce the shortage, medically
certificate at least 2,500 ATCS appli-
cants for the FAA Academy. (This is almost double what we cleared just
a few years ago.)
• Fill 95% of all medical officer
vacancies to reduce the amount of
time necessary to medically certify
ATCS candidates and pilot appli-
cants. (Not only have we seen an
increase in ATCS applications, but the number of pilot applicants and
the complexity of their medical
histories have also increased dramatically. We are also seeking
to increase the number of aviation
medical examiners (AMEs) avail-
able for pilot medical certification.)
• Increase the number of behavioral
health specialists on my staff by
25%. (Even though we are granting
the AMEs more authority in deci-
sion-making, our internal workload
has increased due to the expanded number of conditions and medica-
tions that we can now authorize.)
• Complete the Airman Medical Bill
of Rights as directed by Congress.• Create and initiate the Aeromedical Innovation and Modernization
Working Group to decrease wait
times and increase throughput for
pilot medical processing. (Basically,
we are doing an internal scrub to see how to increase our efficiency.)
• Continue validation of additional neurocognitive screening tests.
(We are using the results of a recent
survey of pilots, our historical data,
and current literature to improve
our evaluation process and offer airmen more options.)
In addition to the above concrete,
measurable goals, we are trying very
hard to change the dynamic between
FAA ’s Office of Aerospace Medicine and the pilot community. I like to
refer to our approach as the three
“E”s — Educate, Early Intervention,
and Evolution of Standards. While
the examples below focus on mental health and well-being, the same prin-
ciples apply to any medical condition.
Educate
We are working to incorporate mental
health literacy into training and testing
events to provide the aviation commu-
nity with the tools to manage fatigue and improve resilience. Additionally, we
want to expand our current outreach to
the community via air shows, meetings,
AMEs, articles, pilot advocacy groups,
webinars, etc. We are increasing AME mental health training and intend to
publish practical guidelines to “unmed-
icalize” mental health in aviation. The
entire aviation community must unite
to overcome barriers to care.
Early Intervention
Prevention and early intervention
will be critical to prevent or mitigate the effect of mental health issues. Not
only is the path to return to safety
sensitive duties much easier before the symptoms have progressed to major
disease, but treatment progress is also
generally more rapid. One important
tool is peer support — early interven-
tion to normalize feelings/perceptions and provide peer-to-peer understand-
ing of available help.
Evolution of Standards
Despite early intervention and
counseling, sometimes medical and
mental health providers must treat
with medications or other therapies. For many conditions and medications,
we already have pathways to return
aircrews to medical certification even
during treatment. We have ongoing
reviews to increase both treatment options and the number of conditions
that we can authorize. However, it is
always better to “nip it in the bud”
before progression. We’re working
hard to remove the stigma and fear surrounding mental health. These
have plagued the aviation community
for far too long. Finally, we are explor -
ing how to create a non-punitive
pathway for disclosing mental health
conditions and treatments. Pilots do
not hesitate to get treatment for high
blood pressure before it progresses to a heart attack or a stroke. My hope is
that someday, it is just as acceptable to
the aviation community to seek help for a mental health condition.
Dr. Susan Northrup received a bachelor’s degree in chem-
istry, a medical degree from The Ohio State University, and
a master’s degree in public health from the University of
Texas. She is double board-certified by the American Board of Preventive Medicine in Aerospace Medicine and Occupa-tional Medicine. She is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and a
former regional medical director for Delta Air Lines. She is
also an active private pilot and aircraft owner.
6 FAA Safety Briefing
Vampire Rules
Vampire Rules
What You Need to Fly at Night
By James Williams
“The approach of sunset was so very beautiful,
so grand in its masses of splendidly-coloured clouds … ”
— Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
During last year’s spooky season, I decided to brush up
on my classic monster movies and fill in some frankly
unforgivable gaps in my movie viewing history. In
addition to Universal Studios’ Frankenstein movies, I finally watched one of the Hammer Film Productions’ Dracula
movies. Hammer is famous for their gothic horror films, particularly from the 1950s through the 1970s. During the
film, Dr. Van Helsing explains the rules for dealing with
vampires. The most obvious is the “allergy” to sunlight. This relegates the vampire to strictly nighttime operations. But as
pilots, nighttime operations aren’t the curse of Dracula. As
we explore in this issue, night flying can be a very pleasant
experience. But we have some additional “vampire rules” to
deal with before we prowl the night sky.
The Approach of Sunset
Before we dig into the letter of the law, so to speak, of night flying, let’s discuss some general preparations that can be
helpful. Even if you are already an experienced pilot but
haven’t done any night flying lately, getting in some practice
with an instructor is always a good idea. In fact, if you’re an
active pilot who doesn’t fly much at night, it would also be a great idea to schedule a few lessons a year to keep yourself from getting too rusty. Even if you don’t intend to fly at night, it's a cheap insurance policy because you never know
when your day flight might get delayed into the evening.
There are also some considerations regarding your
aircraft to account for. If you aren’t familiar with the model or type of aircraft you intend to fly, you may want to find
a time during daylight hours to do a walk around with an experienced pilot to get a good reference for what to look
for in your preflight. While it’s perfectly fine to preflight
after dark, you will likely benefit from more light during
your initial walkthrough. Another preflight task that can be If you aren’t familiar with the model
or type of aircraft you intend to fly,
you may want to find a time during
daylight hours to do a walk around
with an experienced pilot to get a
good reference for what to look for
in your preflight.
helpful if you don’t own the aircraft is to take a quick look
at the aircraft logs for any squawks, particularly regarding
the electrical system and instruments.
The Dark Side of Twilight
We can put away the garlic and silver because our vampire
rules are more focused on aeronautical experience and
required equipment. But first, we need to establish what
night is according to the FAA. Per Title 14, Code of Federal
Regulations (14 CFR), section 1.1: “Night means the time
between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight, as published in the Air Almanac,
converted to local time. ”
Hopping over to the National Weather Service for our
next definition, civil twilight begins in the morning, and ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the
sun is 6 degrees below the horizon. To translate that into
something more usable for those of us without a sextant, it
means light conditions under which objects can generally be discerned without artificial light, barring any obscura-
tion like clouds or fog. Y ou can easily find the times online
by quickly searching for your location and civil twilight.
As for what you need to prowl the night sky, let’s first
look at rules for the pilot. Foremost, you must meet your certificate's training requirements (i.e., 3 hours of training
at night, 100 nautical mile nighttime cross country, etc., for
a private pilot). But for the purposes of this article, we’re going to assume you have a pilot certificate without any
night flying restrictions.
Our next hurdle is night currency. Before you can act
as pilot in command (PIC), you must meet the require-
ments of 14 CFR section 61.57(b). Namely, three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop as the sole manipulator of the flight controls in the same category, class, and type of aircraft during the period one hour after sunset and one
hour before sunrise. Note the slight definitional difference
between night as defined in section 1.1 and the period
required by section 61.57. These times may or may not
line up as civil twilight will vary. So, you could have a time where it’s technically night per 1.1 but does not meet the
time required by 61.57 to perform night currency tasks.
January/February 2025 7The Air Almanac
The Air Almanac contains the astronomical data required for air
celestial navigation. The book provides the following data tabulated
at 10-minute intervals to a precision of 1 arcminute: the Greenwich
hour angle and declination of the Sun, Moon, and three navigational
planets; the Greenwich hour angle of Aries; rise and set times of
the Moon for a range of latitudes; and other data. Each edition also contains sky diagrams for each month; sunrise, sunset, and twilight
tables; and positions of the navigational stars. The Air Almanac is
available nine months in advance of its edition date.
Beginning with the 2008 edition, the Air Almanac is available
only in PDF format. It is expected that those requiring a paper copy of certain pages will have access to a printer. Starting with
the 2015 edition, users may download the entire almanac free of
charge, although the CD is still available for purchase through the Government Publishing Office (GPO).
— Astronomical Applications Department, U.S. Navy
The Air Almanac (bit.ly48VSi29)
8 FAA Safety Briefing
While our trusty aircraft doesn’t care whether it’s day
or night, we do have some additional requirements for
our craft to operate safely. In addition to all the required
equipment for a daytime flight under visual flight rules
(VFR) per section 91.205(b), section 91.205(c) adds
approved position lights, an approved anticollision light system, an adequate source of electrical energy for all
installed radios and equipment, spare fuses if required,
and one electric landing light if operated for hire at night. There are even more equipment requirements for instru-
ment flight rules (IFR) flights. The list makes a lot of
sense; frankly, most of those things are already equipped
on many aircraft. But it’s important to make sure those
bases are covered.
Required instruments:
Airspeed indicator
AltimeterMagnetic direction indicatorTachometer for each engineOil pressure gauge
Temperature gauge
(liquid-cooled engine)/oil temperature gauge (air-cooled engine)
Manifold pressure gauge (if applicable, usually for forced induction)
Fuel gaugeLanding gear position indicator (if applicable)
Required equipment:
Seat belts (with shoulder harness if applicable)Emergency locator transmitter (ELT)Position lightsAnticollision lightsElectric landing light (for hire ops)Electrical system adequate for all required equipmentFuses (if applicable)
Key
Required for Day and NightRequired for NightAnother operational concern is fuel reserves, which
move from 30 to 45 minutes per section 91.151(a)2.
Also, if you intend to use special VFR (SVFR) at night,
you must hold an instrument rating, be current, and
have an aircraft that meets the IFR requirements in
section 91.205(d).
Enter Freely and Of Your Own Free Will!
Night flying can be a wonderful experience, and you may
even come to prefer it. But there are factors that can make
it more challenging, like the lack of visual references and
encountering visual illusions. This emphasizes using
instruments in combination with what references do exist.
But once you get the hang of it, you will open up a whole new chapter in your flying adventure. Elsewhere in these
pages (physical or digital) you can find additional tips to
up your night flying expertise. Soon, you will freely enter the night, not as a castle of horror, but as a comfortable
second home.
James Williams is FAA Safety Briefing’s associate editor and photo editor. He is also a pilot
and ground instructor.While it’s perfectly fine to
preflight after dark, you will likely
benefit from more light during
your initial walkthrough.
Photo by Christoper Criswell
January/February 2025 9
YOUR SENSES
IN THE SHADO
WSNighttime Visual Illusions and Spatial Disorientation
By Nicole Hartman
During nighttime operations, pilots
can fall victim to optical illusions
that can drastically compromise
their safety.Like many kids, my daughters were afraid of the dark
when they were young. Their inability to see in the
darkness left them feeling vulnerable and exposed and
caused their other senses (and imaginations) to run wild. Even though at a certain age they knew that monsters
didn’t exist, their guts still told them that something might be lurking under the bed, in the shadows. Fear of the dark
is common in children and fortunately isn’t dangerous in
typical cases. However, false feelings at night are also preva-lent in the cockpit and are far more hazardous.
There are considerable benefits to flying at night. The
darkness provides a different view, and you’ll probably experience less chatter on the radio and smoother air.
Check out “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” for some experts’ perspectives on night flying. But these perks come with
unique challenges and risks, including limited visibility.
During nighttime operations, pilots can fall victim to
optical illusions that drastically compromise their safety.
So, let’s shine a light on the types of illusions that you might
encounter at night and what to do to combat them.
10 FAA Safety BriefingSight Without Vision
During flight, visual reference is the most important
contributor to accurate spatial orientation. By using visual
references, the pilot can gather information about distance,
speed, and depth. Any condition that deprives the pilot of
natural visual references can rapidly cause spatial disori-
entation (spatial D). These include darkness, the focus of this article, along with clouds, fog, haze, terrain, and sky
backgrounds with indistinct contrast (i.e., arctic whiteout
or clear, moonless skies over water). Humans are visual creatures; our bodies are not built for flying and all the
sensations that go with it. Without adequate visual cues,
you can easily be fooled into thinking that you are climbing
when really, you’re accelerating downwards. Additionally, if you’re turning steadily without adequate visual cues,
after a while you can easily be fooled into thinking that the
turning has stopped and stabilized when the turning is still
ongoing. In fact, after rolling to straight-and-level, a turn in the opposite direction can be incorrectly perceived and
quickly turn into a nightmare.
NTSB data suggests that accidents involving spatial D are
more common at night or in limited-visibility weather con-
ditions. Since 90% of spatial D accidents are fatal, it’s vital that pilots are aware of the dangers of losing their bearings.
So, what should you be on the lookout for when it’s dark
and the looking is difficult?
Autokinesis
This illusion happens when a pilot stares at a bright, sta-tionary light set against a pitch-black background, such as a
star, a planet, or the light from another aircraft. After a few
seconds, the light could appear to be moving toward the
aircraft. Y ou may have even experienced this illusion on the
ground. Autokinesis occurs because motion perception is always relative to some fixed reference point, and in a dark
sky, there are few, if any, reference points so the position of the single point of light is undefined. In an attempt to avoid the impending “collision, ” you may become disoriented,
thinking you have shifted off course relative to the refer -
ence point. To prevent this illusion, avoid staring at one
point of light for more than a few seconds and remember
to conduct a systematic scan for traffic.
The Black Hole Approach
On a daytime approach or even a night approach over a well-lit area, you can use peripheral visual cues to confirm
your glide path throughout your descent. Y ou have feed-
back on your position relative to the runway. But on dark
nights, approaching an airport with few lights or identifi-
able ground features can create the illusion that the aircraft is at a higher altitude than it actually is. The resulting
black hole effect may cause you to come in with a too-low
approach. Drawn in by the darkness, you may crash before reaching the runway.
The black hole effect can also occur when taking off from
a brightly lit airport into a pitch-black, featureless sky. With
no visual cues to reference, you can experience vertigo and
disorientation. Training for the black hole effect, in a simula-tor and in flight, is the best way to prepare for this situation.
Additionally, always trust your flight instruments to main-
tain orientation and a stable approach. Use visual aids such as a Visual Approach Slope Indicator (V ASI) or Precision
Approach Path Indicator (PAPI), instrument approach if
trained and available, and consider landing at a well-lit alter -
nate. Y ou can also discuss possible hazards with local pilots that are familiar with the airport.
False Horizons
Another potential danger is seeing something you think is the horizon and orienting yourself with it. During the day,
you can simply align with the natural horizon of the earth
to maintain straight-and-level flight. But on dark nights
when there’s no visible horizon, the brain can still trick
itself into searching for a horizon to reference. For example, a sloping cloud formation, bright stars, or ground lights
from a highway can create the illusion that the aircraft is
The black hole effect.
An example of a false horizon illusion.
January/February 2025 11not aligned with the horizon. Using these references, you
may align with an incorrect horizon and enter a dangerous
attitude. To prevent this illusion, you should cross-check
with the aircraft’s attitude indicator. It won’t be fooled by
clouds, stars, mountainous or hilly terrain, and city lights.
Flicker Vertigo
Flicker vertigo is an imbalance in brain-cell activity caused
by exposure to the low-frequency flickering (or flashing) of
a relatively bright light (e.g., a rotating beacon or a strobe
light). Flicker vertigo can lead to incapacitation and loss of
control of the aircraft. Although not technically an illusion,
flicker vertigo is often cited as such because it can result in spatial disorientation. Symptoms often occur among
helicopter pilots; however, pilots of fixed-wing and pro-
peller-driven airplanes and crewmembers and passengers can also experience the effects. If you start to experience
flicker vertigo, look away from the light source causing the
vertigo and the symptoms should subside. Flicker vertigo,
which is not confined to night operations, is usually more
of a minor irritation than a source of severe impairment to most pilots.
Head-up Illusion
Another night-flying illusion that can occur during takeoff is the head-up illusion. As your eyes transition
from the bright lights of the airport to the relative dark-
ness of the sky, you may suddenly feel that the nose of
your plane is pitching up more than it should. Aircraft
acceleration exacerbates this phenomenon. At zero acceleration, the vector of gravity is straight down. As you
accelerate, the vector shifts slightly behind you, causing
you to feel like you're starting to pitch up even before you rotate. As you pitch up to climb out and continue to accel-
erate, the feeling only intensifies. Y our instinct would be
to correct this by pushing the stick forward and lowering
the nose, but if you are experiencing a head-up illusion,
this action could cause a crash. As with other illusions, be aware of the potential and crosscheck what you are feeling
versus what your instruments are reading before making
any input corrections.
Sloping Terrain Illusions
At night, an upward-sloping runway or upward-sloping
terrain can create the illusion that the aircraft is higher than it actually is. To compensate, you might fly a low-
er-than-normal approach, which could lead to a controlled flight into terrain accident. A down-sloping runway or
down-sloping terrain can have the opposite effect, result-
ing in flying a higher-than-normal approach. When
planning your route, consult the appropriate U.S. Chart
Supplement for diagrams and information on a runway’s slope, terrain, lighting, and availability of visual glideslope
indicators. If your aircraft is equipped and the runway is
served by an instrument approach with vertical guidance
such as an Instrument Landing System (ILS) or Wide Area
Augmentation System with Localizer Performance with Vertical guidance (W AAS LPV), make use of the glide path,
even when approaching the airport VFR.
The Night in Nightmare
On Jan. 22, 2005, an instrument-rated pilot of a Beechcraft
Bonanza and his passenger were killed when they crashed
on final approach at Brownwood Regional Airport in Brownwood, Texas, during dark night conditions.
The flight departed Dallas Executive Airport on an
instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan to Brownwood. Upon arrival, the pilot was cleared for a visual approach
to Runway 35. While descending into the airport, the
Bonanza hit power lines and trees before striking the ground. Witnesses heard the airplane overhead and then a
loud explosion. One witness noted that the airplane was at
about 500 feet above ground level, three miles south of the
airport, and heading north.At night, an upward-sloping runway
or terrain can create the illusion
that the aircraft is higher than it
actually is.
An example of sloping runway illusions.
12 FAA Safety Briefing
The weather at Brownwood was reported as winds 360
degrees at 9 knots, visibility 10 statute miles, sky clear, tem-
perature 57 degrees F, dew point 45 degrees F. Witnesses to
the accident said that it was dark, the sky was clear, and the
winds were calm.
After the accident, the investigator conducted a test, with
the help of the local fire department, to see if the pilot could have seen the runway from the point where the Bonanza hit
the wires. On a night with moonlight and weather condi-tions similar to those at the time of the accident, the inves -
tigator used a ladder truck to raise numerous firefighters to
the height of where the airplane hit the wires. All indicated
that at a height of 40 feet, the airport was clearly visible, but
many thought they were 150 to 200 feet above the ground.
Because of a lack of lighting and sloping terrain, they experi -
enced the black hole illusion with no visual horizon.
The NTSB determined that the cause of the accident was
the pilot's failure to maintain proper altitude and clearance while on final approach. Contributing factors included
the pilot's lack of familiarity with the airport, the light conditions, the lack of a visual approach glide slope indica-
tor, and spatial disorientation.
Good Night
When my daughters were anxious about going to sleep, I would check in their closets and under the bed to show
them that there was nothing to be afraid of. But when it
comes to night flying, seeing is not always believing. Flying
at night can be incredible, but remember that darkness
does not discriminate, and pilots of all skill levels are sus-ceptible to these illusions. If you encounter a visual illusion
while flying at night, the solution is almost always to trust
your instruments, not your eyes.
Nicole Hartman is an FAA Safety Briefing associate editor and technical writer-editor in the
FAA’s Flight Standards Service.
LEARN MORE
Spatial Disorientation Visual Illusion brochure (PDF)
bit.ly/4f3aicT
GAJSC Spatial Disorientation fact sheet
bit.ly/SDFactSheet
Aeronautical Informational Manual (AIM), Chapter 8
bit.ly/AIMwebInstrument Flying Handbook, Chapter 3
bit.ly/43H2Ygx
#FlySafe GA Safety Enhancement Topic: Vestibular Illusions
bit.ly/4foIhNj
January/February 2025 13
FROM
THE
FLIGHT
DECK
know before you go . F E D E R A L A V I A T I O N A D M I N I S T R A T I O N
P R O D U C T I O N
f a a .g o v /g o /f r o m t h e f l i g h t d e c k
NOW PLAYING
14 FAA Safety Briefing
A New Look for Night Lights
An Update on the FAA’s Approach Lighting LED Migration Plan
By Tom Hoffmann
While it may have taken some time for U.S. con-
sumers to warm up to the many benefits of LED
lighting, it’s clear that this more efficient technol-
ogy is here to stay and is growing at an impressive clip. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration,
the percentage of households that use LED lighting for most or all of their indoor lighting rose from 4% in 2015 to
47% in 2020. There’s been an increase in LED use in many
commercial and industrial applications as well, including office buildings, parking lots, stadiums, and more. A lot of
that increase is due to lower LED costs, the shrinking avail-
ability of non-LED light bulbs, and the realization of this
technology’s many benefits, such as longer bulb life, lower
usage costs, and enhanced light quality.
Of course, LEDs offer similar benefits to the aviation
industry as we’ve noted in the articles “Change the Light Bulbs” (bit.ly/LEDtechnology) and “Nightlights” (bit.ly/FAASB_NovDec15 (PDF)). But unlike many
industries employing LED technology, it’s not always as
straightforward as unscrewing and replacing bulbs in
the aviation sector. There are specific safety and viability
factors the FAA must consider, such as bulb brightness, color conspicuity, and visibility variations that may exist
in different low-visibility environments. To address these
issues, the FAA invested in a significant amount of testing
and research to ensure all LED replacements can be
installed and operated safely. That hard work has paid off with the agency now ready to move forward with its plan
to get LEDs installed in approach lighting systems (ALS) nationwide. Let’s look at how we got here and shed some
light on what’s in store for the future.
PAR for the Course
The LED transition effort began back in 2007 under the direction of the Energy Independence and Security Act.
This act mandated improved light bulb efficiency and
required the FAA to transition incandescent lamps to LED
technology within the various ALS arrays, namely the PAR
38 and PAR 56 bulbs used in these systems.
For those wondering, PAR stands for parabolic alu-
minized reflector. As the name implies, these bulbs use a highly reflective aluminum coating in a parabola-shaped housing that helps create a focused beam of light. Y ou’ll
likely find this design with many accent, landscaping, and
stage lighting applications. The number refers to the size
of the bulb in one-eighth-inch increments, so a PAR 38
bulb is 4.75 inches wide and a PAR 56 is 7 inches wide.
The larger PAR 56 bulbs are used with the more sophis -
ticated High-Intensity Approach Lighting System with LED technology offers many
benefits, including longer bulb life,
lower usage costs, and enhanced
light quality.
January/February 2025 15Sequenced Flashing Lights (ALSF-2), which is only found
at roughly 150 airports. The ALSF-2 uses a mix of more
than 250 steady and flashing lights that extend out 2,400
feet from the runway threshold to provide visual infor -
mation on not only runway alignment, but also height, roll, and horizontal reference for Category II/III precision instrument approaches. The ALSF-2 system also includes
a high-intensity flasher system known as a “rabbit, ” which
looks like a giant ball of light sliding toward the runway two times per second. (Note: The PAR 56 LED replace-
ment is still a work in progress given the added complex-
ities and scrutiny the ALSF-2 systems demand.) More on
that a bit later.
PAR 38 bulbs are mainly used with the ALSF-2’s smaller
sibling — and quite possibly the FAA ’s lengthiest acronym — the Medium Intensity Approach Lighting System with
Runway Alignment Indicator Lights (MALSR). With 940 locations, this is the system you will more likely encounter.
MALSR uses threshold lamps, light bars, and flashers to
provide guidance for Category I approaches.
A typical MALSR uses 18 green PAR 56 lamps along the
runway threshold spaced 10 feet apart, nine white light bars with five lights separated every 200 feet, and five sequenced
flashers also separated every 200 feet over a distance of
2,400 feet from the runway threshold. At the 1,000-foot point, there are three light bars (15 lamps) for added visual
reference for the pilot on final approach. Sequenced flash-
ing lights provide added visual guidance down the runway centerline path.
A Literal Light Bulb Moment
The FAA has long considered using LEDs to replace the less efficient incandescent lights in the ALSF-2 and MALSR
systems to improve reliability and reduce maintenance.
Early operational field tests with MALSRs at Phoenix
Sky Harbor International Airport and Grand Forks
International Airport were very encouraging. However, the FAA decided to research a few issues further.
One area the FAA reviewed was flicker. “LEDs can blink
or flicker since they are not a steady-state light, ” says Matt Harmon, an aviation safety inspector with the FAA ’s Flight
Technologies and Procedures Division. “ After extensive
research, we were able to eliminate LED flicker by varying
The FAA is moving forward with
its plan to get LEDs installed
in approach lighting systems
nationwide.
Lighting configuration for the Medium Intensity Approach Lighting System with Runway
Alignment Indicator Lights (MALSR).
16 FAA Safety Briefingpulse width modulations and voltage inputs, which can
change the way your eyes perceive the light. ”
These pulse width modulation adjustments were also used
to better control dimming with LED bulbs, addressing the
issue of excessive brightness that concerned some pilots early
on. When it comes to dimming, Harmon is quick to point out another unique advantage of LEDs — no color shifting.
“LEDs stay the exact same color all the time, whereas a white
incandescent might appear yellower as it dims. ”
Play It Cool
Although rife with operational advantages, there is one LED benefit that wound up being a liability in certain
cases. Hand in hand with an LED’s greater efficiency comes
a drop in the heat produced per watt. In fact, LEDs emit
nearly 100% of their energy as light, compared to incan-
descent light, which can waste as much as 98% of its energy as heat. However, the lack of heat — and heat in the form
of infrared radiation (IR) — will not allow some legacy
night-vision goggles (NVG) and enhanced flight vision systems (EFVS) to detect these lights on their display.
The agency changed specifications in 2020 to add IR
emitters to red LED obstruction lights (see Advisory
Circular 70/7460-1M), however, the requirement to have
an electronic means to see approach lights if you can’t see them with your naked eye will not change (Title 14,
Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), section 91.176 (a)
and (b)). NVG and EFVS manufacturers are working on adopting new technology that can better detect LED lights.
In the meantime, the FAA is planning to start charting LED
approach light installations in the U.S. Chart Supplement to
help EFVS users know where to expect LEDs. The change
is expected to take place with the December 2024 chart cycle. In addition, FAA ’s Flight Standards Service has a
spreadsheet of all LED approach light system locations at
bit.ly/LED_Installations (PDF).
Lighting the Way
With several years of research under its belt, the FAA is now well on its way to installing LEDs at ALSs nationwide.
“We have awarded a contract to a company to develop
production units of PAR 38 LEDs, and we’re now in the
final phase of development tests, ” says Donald Lampkins,
project lead with the FAA ’s Visual Guidance Lighting Systems Group. “We should be through the testing phase
by next April and ready to install at different airports by the
end of September 2025. ” While the timeline for completion is predicated on funding, Lampkins expects to have the MALSRs all transitioned to LED within six to 10 years.
“With MALSRs, we don’t have to change any of the infra -
structure, ” Lampkins continues. “We are able to swap out the existing lamps with LED ones. ” The new FAA specification for MALSR lights is fairly similar to the previous specifi -
cation for incandescent lights, with the exception of some voltage requirements and a few other items specific to LEDs.
“This keeps it a simple replacement for 98% of the system.
We were able to achieve this by using a new smart LED lamp that can detect the different voltage requirements and
provide the correct light output for each section. ”
The higher-intensity ALSF-2 systems, on the other
hand, have presented a few additional challenges for LED
transition. Lampkins notes that these lights demand higher scrutiny and more certification parameters given the differ -
ent architecture and the extremely precise Category II and III approach systems they support.
“Lamps within an ALSF-2 have different requirements
and must work within a constant current-based lamp monitoring system, so it’s more complicated. The good
news is that we can use all of the hard work and lessons
learned from the MALSR lights research to help write the specifications for ALSF-2. ” The FAA ’s ALSF-2 Project Team
is currently working on those details, along with finding a
bulb supplier, and expects to have a solution in place within three to four years.
Many Hands Make Light Work
Coordination is key when it comes to the actual installation of the new approach light LEDs. The FAA ’s MALSR Project
Team schedules the replacements according to available
funding and resources and will try to coincide with other
planned airport maintenance activities to limit operational
downtimes. With MALSRs, there are approximately 63 bulbs to replace in lighting rows spaced out 200 feet and
within a 2,400-foot footprint. “ A single MALSR can take
anywhere from two hours to two days to complete, ” says Lampkins. Factors such as terrain and accessibility, includ-
ing whether any lights are located within a runway safety
area, can affect the schedule.
It's also worth noting that the FAA does not plan to
install approach lighting LEDs piecemeal. This is to comply with existing requirements that direct airports to convert
to LED lights on a single runway or taxiway at the same
time to avoid any visual perception differences for pilots.
January/February 2025 17
That said, there is the potential to see LED lights on the
airfield (e.g., runway centerline lights, taxiway lights) along
with incandescents used for approach lighting before the
transition is complete.
A Happy PAPI
MALSRs and ALSF-2 systems are not the only approach aids in store for an LED makeover. Also included in the
replacement schedule are the Precision Approach Path
Indicators or PAPIs. A PAPI consists of four light boxes
arranged perpendicular to the edge of the runway. It proj-
ects a pattern of red and white lights that provide visual approach slope information.
A key difference with the transition to LED PAPIs
is that existing PAPI units will be completely replaced instead of just changing the bulbs. Currently, the priority
is to use PAPIs to replace the older Visual Approach Slope
Indicator (V ASI) systems. These more antiquated systems
with numerous variations are approaching 60 years old.
As such, V ASIs have become increasingly unreliable, with spare parts becoming harder to find. The FAA also adopted
this change to conform to International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) requirements that use PAPI as the new international standard for visual glide slope indicators.
“We still have about 400 V ASIs out there, ” says
Lampkins, whose efforts are helping direct about 20
replacements a year with new LED PAPIs. There are cur -
rently 1,356 PAPI systems in the National Airspace System
(NAS), 139 of which have LEDs. There’s still a long way to
go to have everything fully updated with LEDs, but there’s
a strong incentive to get it done soon due to market forces
that have driven manufacturers away from producing
incandescent lamps.
Also fueling the drive for replacement are the impressive
power consumption savings that the switch to LED provides. “When we replaced V ASIs with LED PAPIs we noticed a 60-70% reduction in power consumption from the old units,
which translated into significant cost savings. ” It was these
cost savings that led the LED PAPI Program to win the
Department of Transportation’s 2023 Sustainability Award.
Lampkins expects that the MALSR LEDs will have similar power savings, going from 14,000 watts to just 4,000 watts to operate. An even greater savings may be realized in the
future with the much more power-hungry ALSF-2 lamps.
Passing with Flying Colors
In addition to heeding the advice of researchers about
LED use, the FAA is also keenly focused on pilot feedback.
“We’re seeing a lot of the same positive feedback from
before in recent years, ” says Harmon. “Pilots have indi-
cated that the LEDs work well, can be easily spotted in bad
weather, and that they’re able to detect color differences. ” He admits that while the volume of overall feedback is
down, that’s to be expected as LEDs have become more the
norm in the NAS.
Lampkins adds that the transition has been “a positive
change for pilots that will definitely improve visual cues. ”
This feedback, coupled with numerous financial and
environmental benefits, paints a bright future for LED tech-nology and helps solidify its successful role in the NAS.
Tom Hoffmann is the editor of FAA Safety Briefing. He is a commercial pilot and holds an
A&P certificate.
LEARN MORE
FAA’s Visual Guidance Lighting Systems web page
bit.ly/FAA_VGLS
FAA Engineering Brief 67, Light Sources Other than Incandescent
and Xenon for Airports
bit.ly/Eng_Brief_67SAFO 18010, Procedures for Avoiding Obstacles Lighted with LED Obstruction
Lights While Utilizing Night Vision Goggles
bit.ly/SAFO18010
AC 70/7460-1M, Obstruction Marking and Lighting
bit.ly/AC70-7460-1M (PDF)FAA Report AM-22/08, LEDs in Airfield Lighting Applications
bit.ly/FAAReport_22-08 (PDF)
Check out this video (bit.ly/4fR4AuK) that shows a side-by-side comparison of LED versus
incandescent PAPI lights in use.
FAA technician performing maintenance on a PAPI light box.
Developing Your Night Flight Plan
A Guide to Avoid Things That Go Bump in the Night
18 FAA Safety BriefingArticle and photos by William E. Dubois
January/February 2025 19
Night flight is wonderful. It offers the beauty of spar -
kling carpets of city lights and moon-drenched land-
scapes, calm air, tame weather, uncrowded skies, and
light radio traffic.
But — perhaps — danger lurks in the darkness, just over
the horizon.
The AOPA Air Safety Institute’s Night Flying Accident
Analysis Report found that while night flight makes up
a relatively small percent of total general aviation (GA)
accidents — about 7% — they are disproportionately fatal,
accounting for 16% of all fatal GA accidents. Worth consid-
ering, when absorbing this statistic, is that those numbers
aren’t adjusted for the fact that a lot less GA flying — only
8 to 10% historically — occurs at night. The bottom line is that night flight has the potential to be considerably more
hazardous than the numbers suggest at first glance.
In the grim list of accident causes detailed in the report,
controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) comes in at fifth place among the 27 causes of night accidents and is notable for
being the most fatal defined type of night accident — only
being outstripped in un-survivability by the “unknown
cause” category. Night CFIT numbers are a big enough concern to the NTSB that they issued a safety alert (SA-
013) over the issue in 2008 and updated it again in 2015.
The alert, Flight Into Terrain in Visual Conditions features
a flaming red subhead that reads: “Nighttime Visual Flight
Operations are Resulting in Avoidable Accidents. ”
While certainly sobering on one hand, the positive
takeaway is that these accidents are deemed avoidable, and there are a number of steps you can take — both before and during night flight — to dramatically reduce your personal
risk and avoid becoming a statistic.
Preflight
The NTSB’s safety alert states that CFIT accidents can best
be avoided in the preflight phase of flight. With that in
mind, how can you enhance your pre-night preflight for
maximum CFIT avoidance?
Preflight Altitude Selection
When it comes to avoiding controlled flight into terrain,
the first step is to recognize that you may or may not be
able to see all of the terrain you want to avoid. Y our top priority for a safe night flight is to choose an enroute
altitude well above anything that you might smack into
in the dark. This includes terrain, wind farms, and cell
phone towers. Check the blue maximum elevation figures
(MEFs) for each quad — and adjacent quad — of the chart along your route and select an altitude high enough
to ensure comfortable clearance above those numbers.
That will take care of most enroute CFIT risk, assuming
you fly with even modest skill when it comes to staying
on course and on altitude. But while you’re looking at the chart, take the time to
really study the terrain features along your route. What type of terrain are you flying over? What is on either side
of your course? Be especially alert to hills or other features
that rise significantly above the average terrain and be on the lookout for the blue “Eiffel Tower” icons that indicate
obstacles that rise 1,000 feet above ground level. Some of
the tallest cell towers can top 2,000 feet. Altitude, always
the pilot’s friend, is even more so when the terrain is
cloaked in a coat of darkness, so give yourself plenty of it.
Preflight Route Considerations
Also, take a look at the distribution of cities along your
route. The “yellow zones” around cities and towns on the
chart are not the imprint of city lights but are instead the visual outline of development around a populated area
— the footprint of human activity on the natural terrain.
Still, these markings can be used as proxies to indicate areas of considerable ground lighting and the accompa-
nying night horizon-identification factor that a well-lit
ground environment provides. On the other hand, in
chart areas more devoid of development markings, con-
sider that ground lights may be sparse, and maintaining a visual reference to the horizon may be difficult, or on
non-moonlit nights, impossible.
Night visual flight rules (VFR) flights over rural areas can
be considered an exercise in maintaining control by refer -
ence to instruments. If your comfort in panel-based orien-
tation is less than 100%, consider charting a pilotage course
across rural areas that follows major highways instead of a
direct-course magenta line across the countryside.
A 1947 Erco 415-D (Ercoupe), formerly William Dubois’ family airplane, sitting on the tarmac
at Santa Rosa Route 66 Airport (SXU) as night approaches.
20 FAA Safety Briefing
Preflight Thinking About Airports
Take the time to carefully study the approach paths to all
runways at your destination and alternate, with an eye toward terrain and obstacle issues that could provide a
hazard to flight if invisible or obscured by darkness on
approach. And, while you are studying the airport environ-ments, grab the Chart Supplement and ensure that fuel is
readily available after hours at any planned refueling stop.
Preflight Nocturnal Weather Briefing
Moving from route planning to weather briefing, your
weather check should include both the phase of the moon
(the more moon the better if flying over rural areas) and
the presence of high-altitude cloud cover. While we might
normally ignore a ceiling well above our flight altitude,
when it comes to night flight, a high ceiling can block out moonlight as effectively as closing blackout curtains at
home to silence an annoying streetlight.
Finally, when checking Notices to Air Missions
(NOTAMS) for day flights, we tend to tune out the pleth-ora of “obstacle tower light out of service” alerts — but now
those should be of the keenest interest to you.
Departure
Y ou can maximize safety on departure by treating a night takeoff as a quasi-instrument maneuver. Expect to be more
“head down” than during a normal daylight takeoff. And
even if not instrument rated, with proper knowledge and
training, you can steal some moves from the instrument
pilot’s playbook. Take a look at the instrument departures for your airport to see how instrument traffic would be safely
routed up, out, and away from the airport. How does your
departure plan compare? Simply taking off and proceeding on course like in the daytime may not be the safest departure.
Enroute
It’s back to basics for the enroute segment at night. Ensure you update your altimeter for local pressure frequently as
you travel across the dark landscape to ensure your altitude
is actually what you think it is. And challenge yourself to
maintain that altitude — and heading — with good ol’
fashioned military precision, if you can. If you are receiving VFR radar services, a.k.a. “flight following, ” remember that
the radar is designed for traffic, so don’t count on air traffic
control (ATC) to let you know that you are about to smack into a grove of tall trees atop a hill.
Approach and Arrival
Any night arrival requires strong airmanship with enhanced altitude precision, especially in the approach
to landing phase. When in doubt, assuming the runway
length is sufficient, stay high and land long.If you are flying on an instrument flight plan, recall
that while your approach keeps you clear of obstacles and
terrain until minimum descent altitude (MDA) or decision
altitude (DA) — after that, all bets are off. As designed, you
are supposed to continue to the touchdown visually after
MDA or DA. Popping out of the clouds and having a clear sight picture in daylight is all good and fine but consider
that at night — even without clouds — there can easily be
invisible terrain or obstacles nearby. Continuing noncha-
lantly down a darkened glide slope is not a guarantee of
obstacle clearance.
Night Proficiency
While you could, in theory, do an entire course of training for a private pilot certificate at night (there is no day flight
requirement in the regs), most pilots in training only rack
up the required minimum of three hours, and many flight
schools combine those hours with the required “hood” time
(foggles to you younger pilots), meaning that many trainees are never really exposed to proper VFR night flight. On top
of that, most GA pilots don’t fly at night that often.
Speaking of the hood, as there are a host of night
illusions that put night fliers at risk of spatial disorienta-tion (see “Y our Senses in the Shadows: Nighttime Visual
Illusions and Spatial Disorientation” in this issue), some
regularly scheduled sessions under the hood with a flight
A rainy night at Great Bend Municipal Airport (GBD) in Kansas.
January/February 2025 21
instructor is a valuable investment. Many countries require
a night endorsement with more robust training for night
flight, so why not create your own as a personal minimum?
And ironically, as the “runway lights” do nothing to
light the runway, but rather illuminate its outline so we can
visually judge our approach height and angle, it just feels a lot different landing at night. If you’re flying solo, there’s no
night proficiency requirement. But if it has been a while,
it’s a good idea to go up with an instructor or night-current safety pilot and get in some local practice before a night
cross-country flight.
Gadgetry
Today’s pilot has a huge situational awareness advantage
over pilots of previous generations. Any tablet computer,
running an app that costs less per year than one hour of
flight time, has a major feature that can enhance night safety
when properly used: alerts related to terrain and obstacles.
Of course, these are only useful when both properly under -
stood and activated. The second major feature many apps
boast deserves a word of caution, and that is “synthetic
vision. ” Synthetic vision appears to act similar to night vision goggles, but it is not at all the same, so don’t you dare fly it
that way. It’s all computer modeling based on GPS location
and stored databases. And trees, you know, grow.
Still, synthetic vision and terrain and obstacle alert fea-
tures, while not primary flight tools, are useful enhancers of situational awareness and great resources for added safety.
Boot up the Night
Speaking of tech, even the most modest flight simulators can be used in night mode. Close the curtains, turn off the
overhead lights, and practice some night approaches into
challenging airports — you know, the ones in the moun-
tains or surrounded by trees.
The “V” in VFR
Consider that the “V” in VFR stands for visual, but night
limits our vision in multiple ways. Our eyes shift from
cone-mode to rod-mode, our central blind spot expands,
and our brains are capable of manufacturing all manner of
visual illusions to compensate for our lack of visual acuity.
Meanwhile, VFR flying is more heavily reliant on being
able to see than most pilots appreciate.
The key, beyond intelligent flight planning for night
factors, is to fly fully aware of your night-imposed visual
limitations. Rely more heavily on your instruments than
you do during the day, and program your mind to let the
instruments rule the night — should your eyes and your
instruments disagree.
Oh, and speaking of the rods, those little suckers are
absolute oxygen hogs due to their high metabolic rate at night, the primary reason that the FAA recommends the use of supplemental oxygen at night at altitudes above
5,000 feet mean sea level (Airplane Flying Handbook ).
Human Factors, Night Edition
And finally, don’t underestimate the corrosive effect of fatigue on both fine motor skills and mental processing
speed. If you are tired, you won’t fly as well as when you are
well-rested and your mind will take longer to figure things
out. Descending from cruise at night, the airport in sight
suddenly flickers and winks out. How long will it take your tired brain to process the fact that something solid is now
between you and a safe landing?
Many night GA flights follow a “normal” workday, and
while this may be unavoidable, a good mitigation is to sched -
ule a preflight cat nap. It will be considerably more effective
than coffee, an energy drink, or a caffeinated soda; any one
of which — all being diuretics — can trigger another unwel-
come human factor that can add to night stress.
Wrap Up
Still, there’s no reason not to enjoy the calm beauty of the night. It’s a fine time to fly. It simply requires a bit more
focus on preflight, a change in some day-habit procedures,
increased awareness of your physical condition and limita-
tions, and attention to precise flying.
Be sure to rely heavily on your instruments for depar -
ture, fly with precision enroute, and maximize situational awareness on arrival. Deploy your gadgets and work on
your night proficiency training in an airplane and simula-tors. Finally, always be alert to the fact that while humans
are not naturally nocturnal, with the right tools and pre-
cautions, we can indeed master the night.
William E. Dubois is the ground school program manager for Infinity Flight Group and a
widely published aviation writer. He holds a ground instructor certificate with all ratings, a
commercial pilot certificate with instrument rating, and is a dual-accredited Master Ground
Instructor. He loves night flight.
Don’t Be Afraid
of the Dark
Practice, Preparation, and Proficiency for Safe and Enjoyable Night Flights
By Rebekah Waters
22 FAA Safety Briefing
Photo by Paul Hamilton
January/February 2025 23
Nothing beats the peace and serenity of a night flight.
Cruising through the night sky after dark is a beautiful
experience. But night flying comes with some inherent
risks that might make you afraid of taking off after twilight. Is it worth it to overcome this fear? Absolutely! For starters,
limiting your flights to daytime only cuts down the hours you can operate. Those of us that live in the United States
have entered the season of shorter days and longer nights,
so the hours in a day available for flying have decreased sig-nificantly if you aren’t flying at night.
Things that Go Bump in the Night
There are many scary stories of incidents and accidents at night: from close encounters with terrain to accounts
of pilot-controlled airport lighting not turning on
because older radio frequency technology didn’t work
correctly! Engine failure isn’t more likely to happen at
night, but when it does, finding an open place in the inky blackness below for a safe forced landing isn’t an
easy endeavor. During the day, you can spot bad weather
from miles away, but at night, it can sneak up on you seemingly all at once. With the countless challenges and
risks presented by night flying, you might wonder why
this fear is worth conquering.
Unmatched Peace and Serenity
To start with, night flying opens up more opportunities for travel. Not only will you have more hours available for
flying, but when you fly at night, the airspace is usually less
congested. Airspace tends to open up and become easier to
navigate at night. Less congested airspace also means fewer
radio calls. The pilot who can fly at night is a pilot who can truly enjoy the solitude of flight without the distractions of
air traffic more common in the daytime.
In addition, flying at night can give you a a fresh per -
spective on landscapes, cities, and landmarks that you’ve flown over during the day. Everything looks different in
the dark, but instead of being scary, it can be a new way to
appreciate the terrain below. The contrast between the dark
sky and city lights, especially along coastlines or over large cities, can be breathtaking.
Weather can often be better at night too, adding to the
peace and serenity of night flights. During the day the sun heats the earth’s surface, causing air to warm and rise.
This creates thermal currents and updrafts that can lead
to turbulence — especially over mountains, large bodies
of water, or uneven terrain. At night, after the sun sets and
the air cools, the atmosphere tends to be more stable — especially at lower altitudes. Cooler air is also denser. This
helps to prevent the rising of warmer air masses that might
otherwise lead to convective turbulence, and smoother air
means less turbulence than daytime flying. At night, winds
are likely to be lighter, temperature changes are likely to be fewer, and thunderstorm activity is likely to be reduced.
Y ou are left with flying conditions that are more conducive
to a smoother and more enjoyable flight.
Adventure is Out There
Flying at night can feel like a new frontier. Even famil-iar routes might feel like uncharted territory. And when
you’re flying far from the lights of large cities, you might be
treated to spectacular celestial views of planets, or maybe
even the northern lights.
For pilots who are looking to challenge themselves, night
flying is where it’s at. Night flying demands sharp deci-sion-making skills, careful planning, operational discipline,
and risk management. Embarking on the adventure of night flying can increase your overall proficiency and con-
fidence as a pilot.
Practice, Preparation, Proficiency
If you’ve read this far, I hope you have been convinced
that overcoming the fear of flying at night is worth your
while. To bring you the best tips on how to safely enjoy
flying after dark, I spoke to two night flying experts: Paul
Hamilton and Bob Raskey.
They both note that overcoming a fear of flying at
night begins with practice. Find and practice with a flight instructor who has a lot of good night flying experience.
Practice things unique to night flights, like dimming and raising panel lights, identifying changes in the weather, and
forced landings. Building your confidence with scenarios
like these while you have an instructor in the seat next to
you is a good way to chip away at your fears.
Hamilton, a seasoned pilot with 38 years of flying expe-
rience, still remembers his first night flight.
“It was a required part of my private pilot training, in
September of 1986. It was a local flight out of Gaithersburg,
Md., [GAI]. I recall how different the sight picture was in a
night landing. The flight school did not allow student pilots
to make night solos, so my first time alone in the night sky
was March 11, 1987, a few weeks after getting my private
certificate. I started my instrument rating right after and most of my training was at night, so I had 8.2 night hours
by then. I logged 2.4 hours that night, practicing takeoffs
and landings and enjoying the beauty of the night. ” The pilot who can fly at night is
a pilot who can truly enjoy the
solitude of flight without the
distractions of air traffic more
common in the daytime.
While Hamilton never experienced anxiety about flying
at night, he points out that the percentage of fatal acci-
dents is a good deal higher at night. For him, practicing
flying at night helps him to mitigate the risks to accept-
able levels.
“The first step is to recognize that night adds risks, so
some fear is appropriate. Like many things, fear is good for you, in moderation. At night, most of us are low-time
pilots. I may have just short of 8,000 total hours, but I’m only just a 1,000-hour night pilot. According to Paul,
logging some practice with a night-proficient instructor is
among the best ways to dispel any nocturnal nervousness.
Raskey was working on helicopters in the National
Guard when he got the urge to learn to fly. Because of his day job, most of his flight training happened after sunset.
He thinks this is why he’s always felt comfortable flying at
night. Like Hamilton, he too advises pilots who want to overcome a fear of flying at night to practice with a sea-
soned flight instructor until the fear starts to subside.
“I was taught by really good instructors. Learning to fly
at night made me comfortable with it, and I love it to this
day. The serenity of the sunsets is beautiful, ” Raskey told me. “Night flying has its beauty as well as its treachery. ” He
recommends studying and practicing things like increasing
your spatial awareness and adjusting your eyes to the dark
to diminish the risks of nighttime flying.
Both Raskey and Hamilton emphasized the importance
of practicing simulated emergencies at night. While engine failure at night is not more likely, it is scarier, and the visual
references are different. The same goes for the loss of lights. Practice handling simulated emergencies at night so you will be ready to do what’s necessary to stay safe should an emergency arise. “We gain confidence by offsetting the
added risks of night with practice and other mitigations, ”
said Hamilton.
In addition to practice, Raskey and Hamilton both
agree that preparation is key. Before you take off, there are many things to consider. Tasks like preflight inspections
and weather briefings are even more important at night.
Knowing the cycle of the moon and what airports shut down at night or turn off their lights is also important. Fuel
management, while always important, can be even more
important at night. Things like diversions to an alternate
airport or an issue with the plane that necessitates a forced
landing without visual cues make sufficient fuel reserves absolutely necessary. “Be much more conservative at night.
Go through a night safety checklist. Study the charts and
don’t stretch your limits, ” states Raskey.
Inside the cockpit, make sure you have multiple flash-
lights — including one that can shine red light to save your night vision. If your flight plan is on a tablet, adjust
the brightness for nighttime or use a night-sight app. If
it's on paper, remember not to use highlighters since they can make it impossible to see what you highlighted in the
24 FAA Safety BriefingTasks like preflight inspections
and weather briefings are even more
important at night.
photo by Paul Hamilton
January/February 2025 25
cockpit's dim light. Make sure that you know how to turn
the lights on if you are going to land at an airport with
pilot-controlled lighting. Always have a plan, and a backup
plan in case anything goes wrong.
Proficiency is yet another key to mastering the night
sky, and it’s more than just staying current. While currency means you have met the legal requirements to fly at night,
proficiency means you are fully competent. Becoming a
competent night flyer will help give you the confidence you
need to feel comfortable in the evening skies.
The more hours you log at night the more competent
you will become as a night flyer. When you are building
up your night flying skills, there are a few things you
can do to make it easier. Begin by using a familiar plane. Night flying demands sharp
decision-making abilities, careful
planning, operational discipline and
risk management.Muscle memory for controls like dimming and maximiz-
ing the instrument panels goes a long way in ensuring
a smooth night flight. Stick to familiar routes. Start off
flying a route you’ve flown so often in the daytime, that
you almost feel like it’s second nature to you. As you
become proficient at night flying, your confidence will build, and your fear will shrink. Start the flight while it is
still daylight, so you have the opportunity to slowly tran-
sition into night operations.
“Frequent night flying increases your confidence and
helps you increase your ability to do the right thing in tough situations, ” said Raskey. “But make sure you stay
in the confidence sweet spot — not too low, but also not
too high. Don’t let overconfidence make you take risks or stretch your limits. ”
There’s something special about flying at night. City
lights twinkle below you, and stars shine bright above. It is a peace unlike anything daytime flying has to offer. So don’t
let a fear of nighttime flying make you miss it. With enough
practice, preparation, and proficiency, there’s no reason to
be afraid of the dark!
Rebekah Waters is an FAA Safety Briefing associate editor. She is a technical writer-editor in
the FAA’s Flight Standards Service.
26 FAA Safety Briefing
THE PATH TO UNLEADED AVGAS
FALL 2024 UPDATE
A CRITICAL TRANSITION FOR AVIATION
Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions (EAGLE) Fall 2024 Update
The aviation community has long recognized the need to eliminate lead
emissions from piston-engine aircraft. The Eliminate Aviation Gasoline
Lead Emissions (EAGLE) initiative, led by government and industry
partners, aims to achieve this goal by the end of 2030. This ambitious endeavor brings together government and industry stakeholders committed
to finding a safe and reliable unleaded aviation fuel that is viable throughout the aviation supply chain.
As the general aviation community works toward this goal, the role of air-
craft owners cannot be overstated. They are, after all, the ultimate end-users of any new fuel, and their buy-in will be critical to its success.
This transition is about more than meeting regulatory requirements —
it’s about ensuring that aircraft owners feel confident in the safety, reliability,
and availability of the new fuel. The solution must be robust enough to meet
the diverse needs of the piston-engine fleet, ranging from World War II-era planes to modern helicopters.
Currently, there are three promising unleaded fuel candidates. Their
developers are pursuing either the Fleet Authorization (FA) under the Piston Aviation Fuels Initiative (PAFI) or the traditional Supplemental Type
Certification (STC) process via an approved model list (AML). Both pathways
ensure that engines and aircraft can safely operate on the new fuel however,
regardless of the path to approval to use in aircraft, consumer acceptance will
hinge on more than FAA approval.
Fuel developers must not only prove their products’ safety and compatibil-
ity with the existing fleet but also demonstrate to key industry stakeholders that their products are reliable. Aircraft owners need assurance that switching
to a new fuel won't void manufacturer warranties. They also need to be con-
fident that it won't cause damage to paint, electronics, engine components, or fuel systems. The aviation supply chain will need assurances as well. This
next fuel must be produced, distributed, stored, possibly commingled with
other fuels, pumped, and consumed without causing damage or requiring significant equipment modifications. Industry stakeholders understand that
any new fuels must meet the needs of aircraft owners and be compatible
with production, distribution, and dispensing systems.
EAGLE has worked diligently over the past 18 months to keep stake -
holders informed, providing updates on the progress of key unleaded fuel developers. The General Aviation Modifications Inc.'s (GAMI) G100UL and
Swift Fuels 100R are advancing through the STC process. GAMI has already
secured a broad approved model list (AML) STC for its fuel in 2022 for piston engines and airplanes. Recently, the FAA granted Swift Fuels its first STC
for the use of its 100R in Cessna 172R
and 172S model aircraft powered
by Lycoming IO-360-L2A engines,
with many additional engines and airframes being evaluated for approval
in the weeks ahead. LyondellBasell/VP
Racing’s UL100E is progressing through the PAFI pathway, having completed about 25% of critical materials compatibility and full-scale engine detonation
and performance testing. Both Swift Fuels and LyondellBasell/VP Racing have
also begun working through ASTM International on the development of an
industry consensus production specification for their respective fuels.
The recent updates from EAGLE are optimistic. Progress is being made and
general aviation’s path to acceptance of unleaded fuel continues. To learn more visit flyEAGLE.org (see Stakeholder Meetings).
Congress and the FAA’s commitment to this initiative is underscored by the
2024 FAA Reauthorization Act, which supports the continued availability of 100-octane low-lead (100LL) avgas until the end of 2030, or when a certified
unleaded alternative is available at airports. (Alaska, a state heavily reliant on
piston-engine aircraft, has been given a slightly extended timeline protecting
continued availability of 100LL through the end of 2032). However, the col-laborative industry/government EAGLE goal is clear: the elimination of leaded
aviation fuel by the end of 2030.
General aviation is moving to ensure a safe, reliable transition to unleaded
avgas without jeopardizing the operational safety of the piston-engine fleet.
Aircraft owners must stay informed and engaged as this transition unfolds. It is important that they educate themselves on any restrictions that may ac -
company an STC and comply with any original equipment manufacturer (OEM) directives that may be issued. They are the key players in this process, and their comfort with these new fuels will drive this monumental shift.
It is not enough for the FAA to approve these new fuels. The industry —
from aircraft owners to fuel distributors to fixed-base operators (FBOs) that
dispense fuel and aircraft manufacturers that provide continued operational
support — must accept them. Safety, reliability, and commercial viability must guide this transition, ensuring that by the end of 2030, piston-engine
aircraft can take to the skies with unleaded fuel that is dependable. The future
of general aviation depends on it.
The Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions (EAGLE) initiative is a
comprehensive public-private partnership consisting of the aviation and
petroleum industries and U.S. government stakeholders, and a wide range of
other constituents and interested parties, all working toward the transition to lead-free aviation fuels for piston-engine aircraft by the end of 2030 without
compromising the safety or economic health of the general aviation industry.
To learn more, visit flyEAGLE.org .
CHECKLIST FAA resources and safety remindersJAMES WILLIAMS
A GUIDE IN THE DARK
Much as we might enjoy flying at
night, we’re clearly not built for it.
We’re visual creatures and more
specifically we’re daytime visual
creatures. That’s not to say we can’t
operate at night, we’re just at a dis-advantage when compared to other
creatures that are better equipped
for the task. Because of this, there are some additional concepts and
ideas we need to be familiar with
before we venture off into the night.
This magazine issue is a good place
to start, but one of my favorite FAA resources, the Airplane Flying
Handbook (AFH), is a wonderful
place to make sure you’re covering
all your bases. Specifically, Chapter
11 covers the ins and outs of night
operations from a variety of angles.
The Eyes Have It
The first area of focus, no pun
intended, is the eyes. Aviation is a
visually intense activity, and dark-
ness plays an outsized role in night
flying, so understanding how your eyes work is important. One example
of how anatomy makes a difference
in the night environment is in the composition and arrangement of the
structures in the retina. The retina is
essentially the “sensor” portion of the
eye that receives the light coming in
from the
world and
translates
that into
a signal to
the brain. The retina
contains
two differ -
ent kinds
of photo -
sensitive cells that help you see in color during high light conditions (cones) and
greyscale in darker conditions (rods). The cones are concentrated in the
center of the eye while the rods are in
the surrounding area. This leads to a shift from the center of your field of
view towards the peripheral as light
conditions decrease. And that’s just
one small piece of information about
night vision that could be critical to your night flying. Y ou’ll find more in
the AFH.
Illusions, Airplanes, Lights,
and More
The AFH also provides a quick
refresher on things like the visual
illusions you are likely to encoun-ter at night. Y ou can find a more
detailed and entertaining explanation
in our feature “Y our Senses in The
Shadows” in this issue. The same is
true of the regulatory requirements for pilots and aircraft (“Vampire
Rules” article in this issue) for a
quick brush-up, but the AFH is a
good reference for more detail.
An area we have less coverage on
in this issue is airport and navaid lighting. Airport lighting is critical
for night operations to replace the visual references that are missing at
night. While airports may have dif-
ferent lighting arrangements depend-
ing on their size and scope of oper -
ations, knowing the differences can
be helpful in identifying the correct
airport and runway. Y ou’ll find that
in the AFH too.
Step by Step
Last but not least, Chapter 11 of
the AFH concludes with a step-by-
step guide to night flying broken down by phase of flight. It discusses tips relevant to each phase, like a
thorough review of weather infor -
mation as part of preflight planning
since the dark conditions will
make it harder to avoid clouds if
you’re flying VFR. Another good tip regarding takeoff is to increase
your scan of the altimeter and
vertical speed indicator at night to
compensate for the reduced visual
references. During the day it’s easy to see that you’re climbing, but at
night it can be less clear, especially if
the departure path is over water or
open ground without lit structures.
Whether you’re a student pilot
just starting out, a rusty pilot getting back into the game, or an
experienced active pilot, the AFH offers an excellent base to work
from. However, it’s by no means
an exhaustive resource on night
operations. As the articles in this
issue prove, there is certainly more to say than just what appears in this
relatively brief chapter. However,
while the chapter’s brevity offers its own advantage for a quick refresher,
be sure to seek out other resources.
Whether they are other FAA hand-
books, online courses, or trade press articles they can allow you to
expand your nighttime knowledge.
James Williams is FAA Safety Briefing’s associate editor and
photo editor. He is also a pilot and ground instructor.
LEARN MORE
Airplane Flying Handbook, Chapter 11
bit.ly/FAA-AH
Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge,
Chapter 17: Aeromedical Factors
bit.ly/AeronauticalKnowledge
28 FAA Safety Briefing
DRONE DEBRIEF drone safety roundupREBEKAH WATERS
NOT ALL DRONE LIGHTS ARE THE SAME
One of the most important tenets
of aviation safety is the requirement
that all pilots be able to see and avoid
obstacles and be seen by other pilots.
When you are flying a drone, you
are a pilot, so this applies to you. To ensure a safe flight, you must be able
to see your drone at all times while
also scanning the skies and ground around you for obstacles and hazards.
As the sun sets and the skies darken,
this task gets harder. Have you
thought about how to accomplish this
important task at night?
With the update to 14 CFR part
107 that became effective in March 2021, it’s now easier to fly your drone at night — assuming you meet certain
requirements. One of these require-
ments is that your drone be equipped
with anticollision lights. While most
drones are equipped with navigation lights, anticollision lights might not
come standard straight off the shelf.
What’s the Difference?
Navigation lights and anticollision
lights have separate and important
functions; both are needed for a safe
flight at night. Navigation lights, also known as positional lights, are
often red and green. For drone pilots,
they are a visual aid to seeing your
drone’s orientation relative to you.
If your drone has navigation lights, it’s good practice to keep them on.
Anticollision lights are flashing lights
that are primarily designed to help
other pilots see your aircraft and
avoid collisions. They should flash, and be visible from all directions, to
help manned pilots clearly distin-
guish your drone from other hazards, such as birds. These flashing lights
should be white or red, and they are
primarily intended to increase your drone’s conspicuity to other pilots. In
the rare cases where pilots have been
involved in a collision with a drone, they have consistently stated that they
couldn’t see the drone until it was too
late to avoid it. Drones are hard to see, especially small ones. They blend in
with the background and have slow
maneuvering speeds. Anti-collision
lights help make drones more visible.
A Closer Look
Unlike navigation lights that produce
a steady light, anticollision lights have
a blinking or strobe pattern. These
bright lights can be placed on various parts of the drone so that it can be
seen from multiple angles. To comply
with part 107, these lights must be visible from a distance of at least
three statute miles at night. Some part
107 waivers require daytime use of
anti-collision lights that are visible for
at least one statute mile. To reduce the risk of a collision, consider using an
anti-collision light whenever you fly,
regardless of the time of day. Without them, it is hard for manned pilots to
distinguish drones from birds.
If your drone is not already
equipped with anticollision lights, fear
not. These lights have become fairly easy to install on most drones and are readily available as low-cost after-mar -
ket add-ons. When purchasing a set, make sure you consider things like weight and power supply. Extra weight
and power demands could quickly
drain your battery and drastically reduce your flight time. With a little
research, you should be able to find a
set best suited to your flying needs.
Whether for fun, or for work, there
are many reasons to fly your drone. Whatever reason you have for taking
off, always remember that lighting is
crucial to reduce risk and keep your flight safe. Knowing the different
types of lighting and when to use
them will help protect your drone and
everyone around you.
Rebekah Waters is an FAA Safety Briefing associate
editor. She is a technical writer-editor in the FAA’s Flight
Standards Service.
LEARN MORE
“Everything You Need to Know About Drone
Anti-Collision Lights”pilotinstitute.com/drone-anti-
collision-lights
Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)
Regulations (14 CFR part 107)bit.ly/3YSQbaA
NUTS, BOL TS, AND ELECTRONS GA maintenance issuesREBEKAH WATERS
FIGHTING FATIGUE
Imagine this. Y ou’re out with friends
watching the big game. Y ou indulge in
some adult beverages and tasty game
day snacks — just a few won’t derail
your New Y ear’s resolutions! It’s getting
late, but the score is close. Y ou want to get home as soon as the game ends
because you work tomorrow, but your
partner wants to stay and celebrate the big win. This leads to an argument that
puts a damper on the celebration, so
eventually you head home.
The next morning, you sleep
through your alarm. Y ou don’t have time for a shower or breakfast and
grab a quick coffee as you rush out
the door. Traffic is bad, and your temper gets the better of you when
a driver won’t let you over making
you almost miss your exit. Y ou make
it to work just in time! Tired and a
little stressed, you pick back up on the annual inspection you started the
previous day almost on autopilot. At
lunchtime, you grab some fast food
and an energy drink and then get
back to work. The previous night's festivities start to catch up with you as
the day drags on. Y ou have some more
coffee and push through until quitting time. As you sit in more traffic on the
way home, a bad feeling comes over you. Did you use the right amount of torque on those cylinder head bolts?
Did you check the correct direction of movement of the ailerons after you
replaced the worn cable?
The FAA lists fatigue as one of
the “Dirty Dozen” — a list of twelve common causes of human factors
errors that make up about 80% of
maintenance mistakes. Fatigue, a
physiological state of reduced mental or physical performance capability,
can be caused by one or more lifestyle
issues including stress, lack of sleep
or exercise, poor diet, alcohol con-
sumption, and even over-the-counter medicine, like ones used to treat aller -
gies or coughs. Everyone experiences fatigue from time to time, but in the world of aircraft maintenance, it can
have deadly consequences.
Fatigue impacts your ability to
perform work in various ways. It can
affect your ability to make good deci-
sions. Y our attention
to detail suffers. When
you’re fatigued you aren’t as careful, and
you might forget
important steps or
procedures. Some
studies have shown that driving fatigued
can be as dangerous
as driving drunk. The
same can be said about
performing mainte-nance when fatigued. So, what can you do to fight fatigue
and all the dangers that come with it?
Winning the fight against fatigue
starts with sleep. Most people fall short
of the eight hours per night we all need
to wake up well rested. In addition to this basic requirement, your sleep
hygiene is also important. Stop your
caffeine intake at least six hours before
bedtime. Limit screen time at night,
and refrain from it altogether in the hour leading up to sleep. Try not to
work out in the hours before bedtime
either. Make your bedroom as relaxing and comfortable as you can.
In addition to improving your sleep
habits, there are other lifestyle factors
that will help you combat fatigue. Get
plenty of regular exercise — at the right time of day. Try to eat a healthy
balanced diet and limit alcohol. Be
aware of the side effects of all medi-
cations you take, including over-the-
counter medications. Find healthy ways to deal with stress like talking to
a friend, taking a walk, or even trying
out meditation.
Fatigue can sneak up on you and
impact your ability to work safely, so take good care of yourself. The aircraft
you maintain and the people who fly
in them are counting on you to keep them safe!
Rebekah Waters is an FAA Safety Briefing associate
editor. She is a technical writer-editor in the FAA’s Flight
Standards Service.
LEARN MORE
FAA MX Fatigue Focus Newsletter
bit.ly/3AXNufX (PDF download)
Fatigue Countermeasures, FAA Safety Briefing,
Mar/Apr 2023
bit.ly/4eJkRkk
FATIGUE IMPACTS YOUR
ABILITY TO PERFORM WORK IN
VARIOUS WAYS.
30 FAA Safety Briefing
VERTICALLY SPEAKING safety issues for rotorcraft pilotsLEAH MURPHY
TAKING THE FRIGHT OUT OF ROTORCRAFT NIGHT FLIGHT
For helicopter pilots, night flying can
present a unique set of challenges
with additional risks and threats to
safety that must be mitigated. Threats
such as reduced visibility, altered
depth perception, and diminished spatial awareness all contribute to the
complexity of operating at night. To
ensure safety, helicopter pilots rely on various techniques such as utilizing
celestial illumination, preplanning
for off-airport landings, and taking
precautions to avoid hazards.
Celestial illumination, the natural
light provided by the moon and stars, plays a key role in enhancing
visibility during night flights. On a clear, moonlit night, natural light can
significantly aid a pilot's ability to see
terrain features, identify obstacles, and
evaluate potential landing zones. The
phase of the moon, cloud cover, and weather conditions all directly affect
the amount of light available. During a
full moon, there is more ambient light
to support night vision, but during a new moon or overcast nights, pilots
may encounter darker conditions that require additional caution.
For pilots flying without night
vision goggles (NVGs), celestial illumination becomes even more
critical. Monitoring lunar phases and
weather forecasts before a night flight
allows pilots to better anticipate the
available light and plan accordingly. Flying in remote areas with little or
no artificial light requires pilots to use
the stars and moon to their advan-
tage, helping them to maintain better
spatial orientation in an otherwise dark environment.
Nighttime off-airport landings
are particularly risky due to reduced visibility and limited ability to assess
terrain. Pilots attempting off-airport
landings at night should take extra
precautions, such as performing an
assessment of potential landing zones during the day, if possible. While day-
light operations allow for a thorough
visual inspection of a landing zone, nighttime operations depend more
on preflight planning and careful
approach techniques. The Helicopter
Flying Handbook notes that pilots
have a tendency to focus too much on
the landing area and don’t pay enough
attention to airspeed. If too much
airspeed is lost, a vortex ring state
condition may result. Unlike during
daytime operations, it is difficult to judge the helicopter’s rate of closure
using outside references at night.
Pilots need to pay special attention to the airspeed indicator and maintain
some form of forward airspeed until
close to the ground.
Additional considerations for night
flying include familiarization with obstructions along the route. The
Helicopter Flying Handbook highlights that poor reflective surfaces, such
as wires and small tree limbs, are diffi-cult to detect. Pilots should always
review the most current hazard maps
with known wire locations before night flights.
Migrating birds pose an additional
threat during night flights, especially
during peak migration seasons in
the spring and fall. Keep in mind that many bird species migrate at
night to take advantage of cooler
temperatures and to avoid daytime
predators. Ninety percent of reported
bird strikes occur at or below 3,000 feet above ground level. To miti-
gate this risk, pilots should review
migration forecasts and adjust flight altitudes or routes when necessary.
Understanding migration patterns
and avoiding high-risk areas during
peak times can significantly reduce
the chance of encountering migrat-ing birds, which can cause severe
collision damage.
With mindful preparation and
attention to night-specific challenges, helicopter pilots can navigate the com-
plexities of night flying with greater
safety and confidence. For more
in-depth guidance on night operations, pilots can refer to the Helicopter Flying
Handbook , which provides compre -
hensive information on night vision techniques, landings, and managing
unique nighttime hazards.
Leah Murphy is a dual-rated flight instructor and helicopter
air ambulance pilot. She is also an FAA Safety Team Repre -
sentative in Cleveland, Ohio.
LEARN MORE
Helicopter Flying Handbook, Chapter 12
bit.ly/FAAHelicopterHandbook
FLIGHT FORUM
Check out our GA Safety
Facebook page atFacebook.com/groups/GASafety .
If you’re not a member, we encourage you to join the group of nearly 17,000 participants in the GA community who share safety principles and best practices, participate in positive and safe engagement with the FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam), and post relevant GA content that makes the National Airspace System safer.
letters from the Safety Briefing mailbag
Don’t Wait to Watch This Video
If you haven’t already watched the “Line Up and Wait” video from the From the Flight Deck series mentioned in the ATIS section of this issue, wait no longer! Some who have already watched have expressed their gratitude for the clarification of the instruction and shared their own experiences. Check out the video and leave your own feedback at bit.ly/4fdbSck.
Very nice video. I'm an Airport
Operations Officer at Anchorage
International Airport. Our ATC uses
"line up and wait" a lot so everyone is
used to hearing it, especially on RWY
33 due to RWY 07L being in the jet blast zone. It is also very common to
hear a pilot ask ATC "confirm cleared
for takeoff?" If they were given "line up and wait" the controller will say, "negative, line up and wait." If unsure
ALWAYS ask.
— @bobrieth4081
Great video; thanks for creating it.
Please do more like this. It's nice to
have these reminders, even though every pilot will tell you that this can
never happen to them! 🙂 I like that
you went into the "why" this happens — smart people make mistakes, and
sometimes, if we understand why this
can happen to even good and experi-
enced pilots, it can stick better in our
memories.
— @dermick
“Line up and wait” is internationally
recognized as the way to get an air -
plane lined up and ready for departure.
The word (takeoff) can and must only
be initiated by the tower controller.
Quite often, I hear pilots responding to
“line up and wait” with “cleared to line
up. " This is not a clearance; this is an instruction! Happy flying to all.
— @Global8001
Habitat for Aviation’s All-Women
Airplane Build
This episode of the FAA ’s podcast, The
Air Up There, discusses Habitat for Aviation, a nonprofit that’s prepar -
ing the next generation of airplane mechanics, pilots, and avionics spe-cialists. Habitat for Aviation aims to ignite a spirit of courage and innova-tion in women aspiring to enter the aviation field, much like Rosie the Riveter inspired countless women to take on roles in industries traditionally dominated by men during World War II. And Instagram (bit.ly/4i17lM8) was feeling the girl power! Listen to this and other episodes at faa.gov/podcasts/the_air_up_there.
I look forward to the build and volun-
teering every Sunday with these ladies
— @rayanelkotob
Love seeing women in aviation!
— @ticaerospace
Not to mention an awesome place where adults get to learn as much as the youth.
— @lil_emma_d1
For more stories and news,
check out our blog
“Cleared for Takeoff” at
medium.com/FAA .
Let us hear from you! Send your
comments, suggestions, and ques-
tions to SafetyBriefing@faa.gov . You
can also reach us on X (formerly Twitter) @FAASafetyBrief.
We may edit letters for style and/or
length. Due to our publishing sched-ule, responses may not appear for
several issues. While we do not print anonymous letters, we will withhold
names or send personal replies upon
request. If you have a concern with
an immediate FAA operational issue,
contact your local Flight Standards Office or air traffic facility.
32 FAA Safety Briefing
ON FINAL an editor's perspective
TOM HOFFMANN
COMING THROUGH WITH “FLYING COLORS ”
Humans have always had a complex
and often personal connection to
colors. After all, they are so much
more than random reflected wave-
lengths of visible light. Colors have
deep cultural and symbolic meanings, not to mention the ability to influence
our emotions, moods, and even our
buying habits. I’m a sucker for any-thing blue myself.
Colors can also be used to warn us
about something dangerous or lead
us to safety. This is no more evident
than with the use of red and green. The safety implications of these two
colors have particular importance
in the transportation industry, from the vibrant reds used in brake lights,
stop signs, and firetrucks, to the cool
greens that indicate the locations of an
emergency exit or safety equipment.
There’s some science, as well as
some interesting history, behind the use of red and green lights as critical
safety indicators. Since red has the
longest wavelength, it can be seen
from a longer distance than other colors making it a natural choice as
a color to warn folks. As for green, it
has the highest luminous efficiency, which means it appears brighter and
more visible than other colors.
On the history front, the color
combo has its roots in maritime use where ships would hang red lanterns
on the port or left side of the ship,
and green on the starboard, or right.
It’s thought that red was chosen for
the left since ports were indicated
with red lights and many ships would dock on the port side. In 1846, the
United Kingdom passed an Act that
required red and green side lights for all sea-going steam vessels, followed
by a similar Act in U.S. Congress in
1849. Incidentally, maritime history
is also tied to the colorful idiom I
chose for the title. Ships that were successful in battle would often
return to port with their colors
(flags) raised high to indicate success at sea.
As pilots, we’re of course even
more attuned to the importance of
red and green. They are ingrained
in many of our actions during flight and play an integral role in keeping
us out of danger, especially at night.
We rely on reds and greens to inform
us about proper (or excessive)
airspeeds and RPMs, help us avoid obstructions on the ground, identify
an airport at night, keep us on the
right glide slope, and allow us to determine the relative position of our
fellow flyers, just to name a few. One
less common example, but undoubt-
edly critical when needed, is the ATC
light gun signals used
when your radio has
given up the ghost.
I can attest to that
criticality having had an unfortunate “been there,
done that” moment early
in my flight training. It’s
something you train for, but never expect to use.
In my case, the process
worked just as it should have. After going NORDO (no-ra-dio) at night a few miles outside the pattern of a busy towered airport, I
nervously squawked 7600, not really
sure of what to expect next. Within seconds, I felt a rush of relief as I
literally got the “green light” to land. I
never got to do a real-world light gun
signal exercise in my training, but I
highly recommend it. I also suggest you periodically brush up on your
light gun signals. Do you remember
what an alternating red and green
signal indicates? Y ou can view a light
gun signal card on the FAA ’s runway safety site at bit.ly/4eGMz1h.
When flying at night, under -
standing what another aircraft’s red, green, and white navigation (posi-
tion) lights are indicating can also
be a lifesaver. If you see both a red
and green light of another aircraft,
and the red light is on the right and the green to the left, you could be on
a collision course. Right of way rules
dictate that the aircraft (of the same category) to the other’s right has
right of way. If you only saw another
aircraft’s green navigation light, the
other aircraft would be to your left
and you would have right of way. If you see just red, give way. Seeing
only an aircraft’s white navigation
light on the other hand would indi-
cate that an aircraft is moving away
from you.
With shorter days and longer
nights, winter flying focuses more
on low — or no-light environments. Know your surroundings, do your
planning homework, and heed the
meaning and importance of those
aviation night lights!
Tom Hoffmann is the editor of FAA Safety Briefing. He is a
commercial pilot and holds an A&P certificate.
Photo by Paul Cianciolo
FAA FACESFAA employee profile
PAUL CIANCIOLO
CHRIS CRISWELL
Manager, FAA Airport Data and Airspace Branch
For Chris Criswell, an interest in
aviation hit him like a random dart
hitting a map. While flipping through
a course catalog at the University of
Maryland Eastern Shore, looking
for an interesting elective, his finger stopped on a private pilot course.
“ After attending the first class, I
was hooked, ” he explains. “I quickly scheduled an intro flight at Salisbury
Airport, where I took to the skies for
the first time in a 1978 Cessna 152. I
was all in from that point. ”
Chris continued flight lessons after
the class and worked as an airport lineman to help pay for his private
pilot certificate. He soloed in 2001, shortly after graduating from Salis-
bury University. However, his degree
wasn’t in aviation; it was in geography.
Chris earned his wings while working
as a geographic information system (GIS) analyst at Naval Air Station
Patuxent River, Md.
Joining the FAA in 2002 was
another spin of the globe. Chris was
preparing for his instrument rating and went to faa.gov to download the
new certificate/rating application form
when he saw a link on the website for jobs at the agency.
“I quickly scrolled through the FAA
jobs list and found a cartographer
position, ” he notes. “My pilot certifi-
cate and a geography degree fit the job perfectly, so I applied. ”
At the FAA, Chris focuses on
developing better processes and sys-tems for collecting and disseminating
aeronautical data and information.
He has worked within the Air Traffic
Organization’s Aeronautical Infor -
mation Services directorate, the UAS
Integration Office, and now as the
branch manager of the Airport Data
and Airspace Branch in the Office of
Airports Safety and Standards.The branch develops and maintains
data standards, policies, and proce-dures for collecting and analyzing
airport and airspace data for more
than 19,000 landing areas within the
National Airspace System (NAS). The data is collected and analyzed
within the Airport Data and Informa-
tion Portal (ADIP) at adip.faa.gov. It consists of a robust set of applications
used to analyze, verify, and validate
airport and airspace data to ensure
data integrity before being provided to
various users.
“One of our primary users is Air
Traffic’s Aeronautical Information Services to support the aeronautical information products they produce
for pilots, ” Chris details.
ADIP also recently received its
first ISO 9001 certification, which
meets the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) requirement
of establishing a quality management
system (QMS) to manage aeronautical
information. This is a step forward in
meeting the FAA ’s vision “to reach the next level of safety and efficiency and
to demonstrate global leadership in
how we safely integrate new users and technologies into our aviation system. ”
An ADIP search tool is also avail-
able to the public. It has everything
from facility details to a kneeboard
doc, charts, and an airport master record — all good references to aid in
a nighttime preflight plan, the theme
of this issue. In Chris’s experience flying GA aircraft at night, his biggest
challenge is dealing with poor taxiway
lighting and markings, which makes
the airport diagram — available on
ADIP — an essential nighttime tool.
Another challenge at airports is
the wildlife. At night, they are much harder to see and avoid. And if you do
encounter one, an emergency landing is more difficult in the dark. Chris can
attest to that.
In the early evening hours of Oct.
31, 2021, Chris struck a cormorant (a sizeable aquatic bird) on takeoff. The
bird went through his windscreen. He
describes the event in this FAA Wildlife
Video at bit.ly/FAAbird . Preparation is
essential for any flight, but even more
so when visibility is limited; obtain as
much information as possible for your
flight before entering the airplane.
“Review the airport diagram,
sketch, or satellite imagery of the airport before getting into the plane
so that you can anticipate where you
may be taxing, ” he adds. “Pick up VFR flight following if available, file a VFR
flight plan, carry a red flashlight with
extra batteries, and be organized to
reduce distractions. ”
That’s a lot of aeronautical data
and information needed to prepare adequately for a night flight. Looking
to the future, Chris sees technology like artificial intelligence as a tool to
help analyze the various data sources
for weather, air traffic, performance,
aeronautical data, and NOTAMs to
help create the most efficient and safest
flight for increased situational aware-
ness. Until then, fly safe and prep hard.
Paul Cianciolo is an associate editor and the social media
lead for FAA Safety Briefing. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran
and an auxiliary airman with Civil Air Patrol.
U.S. Department
of Transportation
Federal Aviation
Administration
800 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20591
FORWARDING SERVICE REQUESTED
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use $300
LOOK WHO’S READING
FAA Safety Briefing
“Safety is paramount when I’m flying, and I’m never
done educating myself on how to be a safer pilot.
That’s why I read FAA Safety Briefing magazine.”
– Bruno Brasileiro
Pilot and Social Media Content Creator
@Fly_With_Bruno
Fly GACA is an independent educational platform. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) or the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The official and authoritative source for all civil aviation regulations, publications, and aeronautical information is always GACA. Always verify against the latest official GACA publication at gaca.gov.sa.