Night Operations#
Night vision#
Night adaptaion: eyes being adjusted to the dark. Usually takes about 20-30 minutes.
Sharp clear vision (with the best being equal to 20–20 vision) requires significant oxygen especially at night. Without supplemental oxygen, an individual’s night vision declines measurably at pressure altitudes above 4,000 feet.
Avoid bright lights (cell phones, flashlights, brightly lit areas of the city)
Use a red flashlight or dim white flashlight, don’t shine it in eyes.
Airport & aircraft lights#
Airport#
Pilot controlled lighting at select airports (usually on CTAF)
Lights stay on for 15 minutes
Variable intensity light systems have 7, 5, and 3 microphone clicks.
Runway#
Runway end identifier lights (REIL): synchronized flashing lights on each side of the runway threshold.
Runway edge light system: White, except on instrument runways where yellow replaces white in the last 2000 feet (or half the runway length, whichever is smaller).
Runway centerline lighting system (RCLS): on some precision approach runways, along centerline every 50 feet, white until the last 3000 feet of the runway, alternating white and red at 2000 feet, all red for last 1000 feet.
Touchdown zone lights (TDZL): two rows of white light bars from 100 feet beyond landing threshold to 3000 feet beyond landing threshold (or runway midpoint, whichever is shorter).
Taxiway#
Edge: blue
Centerline: green
Clearance bar: three in-pavement yellow lights, holding positions on taxiways
Runway guard lights: Elevated flashing lights on either side of runway
Stop bar lights: Row of red in-pavement lights across a taxiway, used by ATC to confirm clearance to enter or cross runway
Beacon#
The colors and color combinations of beacons are:
White and Green: Lighted land airport
*Green alone: Lighted land airport
White and Yellow: Lighted water airport
*Yellow alone: Lighted water airport
*Green alone or yellow alone is used only in connection with a white-and-green or white-and-yellow beacon display, respectively
Green, Yellow, and White: Lighted heliport
Military airport beacons flash alternately white and green, but are differentiated from civil beacons by dual-peaked (two quick) white flashes between the green flashes.
Aircraft#
Position lights required from sunset to sunrise.
In addition to the red, green, and white position lights (red to port, green to starboard, and white astern), regulations require one anticollision light for aircraft flying at night. This can be either white or red, and may be either a mechanically rotating beacon or a flashing strobe.
Anticollision can be turned off if PIC deems that, for safety, they should be turned off.