Accident analysis: Things that go bump

The medieval Scots who added that plea to their evening prayers probably never dreamed of machines that could fly, but if they had, they might easily have imagined all the mischief that could come from blundering around the sky after dark. Modern technology has compounded the potential risks, while also making it easier for those who really try to stay clear of trouble. In addition to hills, trees, and clouds, we now have antenna towers and power lines. But gyroscopic attitude instruments, electronic navigation, and incredibly detailed charts can help resolve otherwise inevitable confusion over not just which way to steer, but which way is up.

Established pilots inclined to view the night currency requirement for carrying passengers as another mindless bureaucratic obstruction should take a second look. Experience hasn’t prevented airline transport pilots from succumbing to optical illusions during visual approaches after dark, and takeoffs don’t fare much better. A 19,000-hour airline transport pilot initiating a ferry flight from Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland steered a Beech Baron straight into Lake Erie. Three months earlier, two senior Civil Air Patrol officers with more than 53,000 hours between them flew a Cessna 182 with a Garmin G1000 panel straight into a mountainside on a clear-night departure from Las Vegas.

Students and instructors alike should be mindful that having a CFI on board only protects against controlled flight into terrain to the extent that the instructor is alert, informed, and attentive. The instructor whose Piper Warrior struck a hillside north of Phoenix while practicing VOR tracking had been warned by her school’s management not to fly in that area at night. Both students died with her. The Maryland student whose CFI inexplicably changed the destination of their night cross-country to a field located higher than their cruising altitude survived, but with injuries that deprived him of his ability to work and left him dependent on prescriptions for relief from chronic pain.

What’s the answer? Simple. Remember that you can’t count on seeing what you’re doing, and plan accordingly (see “After Sundown,” p. 38). Apply instrument flight rules practices for routing and altitudes, and learn to trust your attitude instruments during climbout and approach. Trust the smart people who figured out how to fly without bumping into the things that you can’t see.