Safety Spotlight
Safety Hot Spot: Flying Night VFR
Over well-lit terrain, VFR night flight is often a magical experience. But when ground lights are sparse, night VFR can easily become a challenge. This is certainly not to discourage appropriate night flight, which can be both beautiful and useful, but the night VFR accident record—as revealed by the AOPA Air Safety Foundation's GA accident database—clearly shows proportionately many more VFR accidents at night than during the day. Be sure to review the videos and articles and take the quizzes below. They'll help keep you proficient so you can enjoy night VFR.
Get Started
Great Learning Tools
Articles and videos from AOPA's Air Safety Foundation and the FAA to get you ready for takeoff.
Print Publications
- Safety Brief Terrain Avoidance Plan
- Safety Advisor Spatial Disorientation
(pdf format) - Landmark Accidents: Vineyard Spiral
- Beware the Dark Side
- Going Bump in the Night
- Black Holes
- Flying's Forgotten 5%
- FAA Advisory Circular Pilot's Spatial Disorientation (pdf format)
Videos
- Dramatization of a Series of Fateful Decisions
High resolution | Low resolution - Night Takeoff in Mountainous Terrain
High resolution | Low resolution
Take a Checkride
Think you're ready? Find out if you've got the right stuff for night VFR.
Sporty's Safety Quizzes
Related Web Sites
A database of past mistakes to help make your future safer.
Fatal night VFR accidents in the last ten years
Hot Spot Archive
Updated Tuesday, October 03, 2006 9:38:55 AM
