Flying At Night

[MichaelFarley56]

After having a chat with Scott Meyer this evening about the possibility of night flying and lighting options, I was curious what everyone's opinion is on night flying in their Sonex/Waiex.

I know that, for those who are flying as a Sport Pilot, this may be N/A given the limitations of the license. At the same time I see more and more Sonexes equipped with Navigation & Strobe wingtip lighting systems as well as wing leading edge landing light systems. With this in mind, I'm curious if anyone flies or has flown at night in their Sonex, or if you're still building, if you're planning on it.

For me personally, I equipped my Waiex with wingtip LED Nav/Strobe lights while building so my plane has technically been in compliance with FAR 91.205 for night operations. I also have a leading edge LED landing light kit (Fresh Aero) sitting in my hangar that I'll install on a rainy day. Despite the legal compliance, I've never flown my Waiex under true night conditions. I've flown early mornings and late evenings, but no true night time. Maybe someday...

Just curious what everyone's feelings are on the matter! :mrgreen:

[Gripdana]

I have equipped my plane with Aveo Nav/Strobe wing tip lights and a tail Aveo posistrobe. I also installed 2 duckworks LED wing tip landing lights. I am planing on flying at night. That said I need to asses the night visability with the Sonex tinted canopy. I wish Sonex offered a clear canopy/windshield in addition. My gut feeling is that the canopy will prevent me from flying at night. So I think I will be limited to early morning first light and finishing my flights at sunset. But I will be covered legally if I need to finish a flight slightly after sunset in a pinch.

[Bryan Cotton]

I'll fly mine at night. Since that is when I get to build that is probably when I get to fly too!
I did most of my IFR training at night and a bunch of XC too. Can't beat is as long as the engine doesn't quit.

[ScottM-Sonex1629]

Thanks for posting this Mike! I plan to fly some at night. I always loved flying around St. Louis and doing some nightitme sight seeing when I was growing up. My best friend was a pilot (before I started to fly), and his father was a Navy P2 Neptune and P3 orion veteran, who worked for McDonnel Douglas (before they were swallowed up by Boeing) and they use to take me up at night in the Piper Lance. The view from the back seat wasn't always the best but it was fun.

What have those who equipped their Sonex/Waiex done for interior cabin illumination for night flying?

[daleandee]

Can't beat is as long as the engine doesn't quit.

Well ... being a lowly Sport Pilot says I ain't flying at night but the other thing is that they don't make an engine reliable enough for me to fly single in the dark. Years ago I did it in Cessnas and Pipers and admit that the view was spectacular, the radio quiet, and the air smooth!

Speaking of night flying reminds me of Flip Wilson (showing my age) dressed as Geraldine Jones at the airline counter saying;

If you can fly this plane 600 miles an hour in the dark and find Los Angeles ... you can find my luggage!

:lol:

Dale
N319WF

[Gripdana]

My instruments are lighted and come on with the nav lights. I also have red LED tape lights and a dimmer that I may install under the panel so it will light anything on my lap. I also found an LED goose neck "book" light at Cabbala's in Louisiana (on a weekend off while out of town working) that plugs into my panel mounted USB port.

[andrewp]

My dear Sonex has a HID landing light (old school!), red leds firing down on the panel from the top of the turtle deck, red leds under the instrument panel and red LEDs pointed at the throttle with digital dimming (muhaha). The main switches are back lit. IT all works just fun as the sun goes down.

I have certainly landed her at very close to what would be called night and I have appreciated all these things I added when building her, but I have not deliberately flown her at night proper. Maybe one day, but not so far.

AP
#618

[LuscombeFlyer]

Discussions of night flying bring back the memory of my instructor's advice on nighttime off-field emergency landings; at 250' AGL, turn on the lights. If you don't like what you see, turn them off.

[mike.smith]

I set mine up for night flight. I have more single engine time at night than most of my pilot friends combined. That's when I used to do a lot of my VFR and IFR training, and my after-work flights. All that night flying was in tricycle gear aircraft. Now I have a tail dragger. Frankly that concerns me far more than the tint of the canopy.

Sometime in the spring I plan to head over to the KBED airport where I have wide, 7,000' long runways, and tell the tower I'm practicing first time night landings in a taildragger. I figure I'll start at dusk and do take-offs and landings until after dark. If it feels good I'll go back to my 2,700' home runway, and if it doesn't, I'll park at KBED and get a ride home, to come back later in daylight.

[Bryan Cotton]

Mike,
I believe that if you are comfortable landing tailwheel during the day, and comfortable landing nosedraggers at night, you will have no problems landing taildraggers at night.