Event Details and Registration

During this 2 hour presentation we will be discussing the why night-flying has always been, and continues to be, more dangerous than flying during the day. This is, for the most part, because of a lack of visual cues and our vulnerability as humans to be affected by illusions. Historical accident data indicates that not only does the risk of specific types of accidents increase at night (in the form of dark-night takeoffs, inadvertent VFR-into-IMC, CFIT, black-hole illusion), but also that these accidents are usually fatal. In this presentation, you will gain a thorough understanding of the hazards that cause accidents during night operations and receive practical preventative measures you can immediately apply to keep you safer when the lights go out. Don’t miss this critical and informative presentation for pilots of all skill levels!

EAA240 Hanger at the top of the hill.

We'd like to thank EAA 240 for the use of the facility. EAA 240 will have a pancake breakfast from 0800-1200 for a small fee but this is not required to attend the meeting! https://eaa240.org/eaa-chapter-240/pancake-breakfasts/

Even though most of the hazards associated with flying at night have been known in the aviation industry for many years, these types of accidents continue to occur, which would indicate that pilots’ knowledge or awareness of these hazards is still very low. In this presentation, we will cover the main causes of night accidents, namely VFR-into-IMC and Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT), and the underlying contributing factors – loss of external visual cues, degraded visual perception, visual illusions, and spatial disorientation.  You will learn about the physiology of night vision and the factors and limitations that affect night vision including: reduced acuity, reduced depth perception, night myopia, visual hypoxia, night blindness, effects of aging, carbon monoxide, alcohol, drugs, fatigue, smoking, and night adaptation. You will also gain a critical understanding of visual illusions including autokinesis, false reference, Venus and Sirius, night myopia and somatogravic, and the spatial disorientation that can result from each. Putting all of this together, we will discuss in a lively interactive session the risks these visual and physiological hazards create for each phase of flight, from pre-flight planning through approach and landing, and provide practical techniques for reducing those risks.