Night Flight in the Mountains
Flying VFR at Night in the Colorado Rockies
Simply from reading the headline some of you may respond "that's crazy." In reality night flight through the mountains can be more dangerous, but there are things a pilot can do to minimize the risk. If you pick the right night, night flight in the mountains can also be very rewarding.
I spent yesterday evening on a flight with a student traveling from Eagle Airport to Grand Junction and back. The flight departed and returned to Eagle in the dark. The flight itself was very enjoyable, and a pleasure to do.
In itself, night flight can be hazardous. Add a crossing of the Colorado Rockies and the hazards only increase. As I told my student, there are things a pilot can do to minimize these hazards and manage the risks; the following are my thoughts on night flight through the mountains...
Night flight in the mountains requires the pilot to be operating at their peak. This is the case for flying skills, planning skills, and medical/psychological condition. If you're not fully 100% up to the task then it's just better to stay home.
Planning...
Planning is essential. Get a weather briefing, file a flight plan, understand the conditions, look at charts, and review forecasts. Review your route, draw it on the map, have nav aid info ready. If you have a GPS, preload the route. Do everything possible to ensure your attention is on flight operations and not on trying to plan a flight as you fly it.
Weather...
In the mountains at night is no time to be second-guessing the weather. If it's not ideal, it's not a good idea. If you're new to night flying in the mountains you may want to make your first voyage on a clear night with a full moon. In the winter, with a full moon there is an amazing amount of visibility because of reflected light off the snow.
Flight Plan...
When you plan your route, plan it with possible outs by over flying many airports. Since airports are generally in the valley and not on the mountain doing so will also keep you over lower terrain where the visual reference of lights is below. Just before you launch open your flight plan. Also, if possible use flight following, ATC can help guide you and keep you out of trouble if problems do arise - remember they're a resource for you. If you paid your taxes then you paid their salary, you have a right to use that service.
Physical Condition...
Make sure you're rested, well fed, and up to the challenge. If that's not the case pick another night. At night I generally fly higher altitudes, crossing the Continental Divide at Corona Pass at night I might fly 15,500 east and 16,500 west. This means have Oxygen! Oh... and use it. Oxygen will make your night vision sharper.... if you don't believe me; go to the USAF Altitude Chamber Training. Another important consideration is to allow your night vision to adapt. I sometimes just sit in the car for 30 minutes in the dark before the flight to accomplish this.
Aircraft Condition & Preflight
Assuming you’ve done everything to mitigate the above risks, the largest remaining risk will be that of an equipment failure like an engine failure. For this reason it’s essential to do a very good job on the preflight inspection. The preflight can be a challenge at night, sometimes it’s helpful to do the preflight before sunset and then wait for it to get dark. Do the most through preflight you know how to do, and then do it again. It’s also a good idea to organize the cockpit so you can find things in the dark. Have lights available to see charts, etc.
The up side of night flight is that it’s easier to find airports, see traffic, and often the air is smoother. A night flight under a full moon through the snow covered Rockies is truly a unique experience that few people get to enjoy. It’s definitely worth the extra work.
Mountain Flight Instructor | Mountain Flying Courses
I figured I would dedicate this blog post to telling a little about our mountain flying courses. We frequently instruct pilots who own their own airplane, and are from areas without mountainous terrain. One of the first questions that comes up, is how do I get to Eagle Airport to fly with you in my airplane given that Eagle is in the mountains and my reason for coming is that I don't know how to fly in the mountains. We can and do frequently fly our airplane to the front range to meet pilots. Generally, if you’re coming up for a couple days of training then what we do is fly our plane to an airport east or west of the Rockies, and we just park our plane there for a couple days and then ride back to eagle with our student. There are a couple airports where parking is free or cheap that we generally use. In that type of scenario we charge a flat fee of $200 for the round trip just to cover the gas and time on the airplane. When you’re ready to depart to go back home you would just drop our instructor back at the airport where we left the plane.
In terms of a mountain flying course, we custom tailor the course to a pilot's experience, goals, and their airplane. In most cases, pilots will spend two days flying with us. Sometimes we have students that want more, others want to simply limit it to a half day or 1 day. So in that regard a pilot can really determine how much time you want to spend.
As we're planning your training it helps to know a little more about the student... their goals for the course, as well as future goals for your flying. For example some people come to us as a prep for flying to alaska. Are there any any specific airports you want to be sure to visit – resorts you like going to etc. Are you an instrument pilot? How much time, ratings, how much time do you have flying your airplane?
On the typical 2 day plan, we generally start off with a couple hours of ground instruction/discussion on the basics. Following that, we work through a variety of scenarios basically navigating to and from different mountain airports, pass crossings, and mountain corridors. Throughout the training we mix in additional discussions and ground instruction. The goal is not to bore the student with hours upon hours of ground, and instead have an integrated learning experience. At the end of two days most pilots will have landed 10-15 different airports with different challenges, flown most of Colorado’s major mountain corridors, and tackled the major passes generally used to navigate east to west in the central Rockies.
Occasionally we have students that simply want a 1 day, or a half day because they maybe have a 2nd home in a certain area, like Telluride, but live in Texas. In those cases they may only be interested in flying that route with an instructor and learning the most basic knowledge. We’re happy to do this type of training also.
In terms of cost, Our instructors bill hourly @ $75.00/hour for mountain flight instruction in customer aircraft and $40/hour for ground. If you’re flying with us 1 full day or more we provide a 20% discount. The two day courses generally work out to around $700-$1000. In most cases we have a total of 4-5 hours of ground and 10-12 hours of flight.
Mountain Flight Training in Colorado
If you're interested in flight training with an emphasis on extending your knowledge with some mountain flight training then Colorado is the place to come to, and Alpine Flight Training can provide the instruction. We operate from Eagle County Regional airport, located in the central Colorado Rockies. Whether for several hours, or for several days, Alpine Flight Training instructors will show you what it takes to fly safely in the mountains. Each mountain flight training instruction session is specifically tailored to the student. We can provide training in your aircraft or our rental Katana.
Throughout each session, we will build on your aviation knowledge and airman-ship by presenting opportunities for hands-on practice and application of learning on some of Colorado's mountain airports including Steamboat, Eagle, Aspen, Telluride, Glenwood Springs, Gunnison. We'll also show you how to navigate the mountain passes and give you strategies for dealing with mountain weather in a small aircraft.
Mountain Flying Checkout in Colorado
Colorado is a great place to learn the ins and outs of mountain flying and get a mountain checkout. While there is no formal FAA rating or endorsement for a mountain checkout, many insurance companies will still require such checkout before pilots are allowed to fly into high terrain. At Alpine Flight Training we follow a curriculum that follows the topics developed by AOPA Air Safety Foundation. In Fact, we recommend every student coming for mountain flying to take the online ASF Mountain Flying Course prior to mountain flying with us. Doing so will make your mountain checkout count towards a wings phase of pilot proficiency, and that can mean a reduction in insurance premiums.
Any mountain checkout should consist of a combination of ground and flight instruction. Topics should include weather, performance limitations, specific maneuvers, strategies, practice landing and departing mountain airports with a variety of challenges, and practice flying mountain passes.