| Heli-Skiing in Canada or spectacular tours in New | | | | career as a pilot. Keep this in mind when choosing your |
| Zealand, mountain flying in a helicopter is one of the | | | | flight school. |
| most thrilling experiences you can have. | | | | Flight operations don't stop when the sun goes down. |
| Safe mountain operations require not only good flying | | | | Night flight training is part of your pilot training program |
| skills but also experience and knowledge. It is quite | | | | and includes both flight and ground lessons. |
| different from flying at low altitude and over flatland. | | | | In about the 20th hour of your course you'll do your |
| For one thing aircraft performance is decreasing with | | | | first night flight and you'll be at the controls to |
| altitude. The air becomes less dense making it harder | | | | experience the city in a way you could never imagine. |
| for the engine to breathe while the helicopter's main | | | | 1. DEFINITION |
| and tail rotor blades haveless grip in the air. | | | | In aviation, night is the time between the end of |
| Then there is the weather factor. Each area in the | | | | evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil |
| mountains has its own local climate making it more | | | | twilight. |
| difficult to predict weather conditions for a given time. | | | | Civil twilight ends in the evening when the centre of the |
| When flying over rugged terrain you will have to deal | | | | sun's disk is 6 degrees below the horizon and begins in |
| with turbulenceand downdrafts, changing visibility and | | | | the morning when the centre of the sun's disk has |
| temperatures. | | | | again the same position. |
| Visibility for example can change within minutes from | | | | How can you find out for your area? It's easy. Just |
| clear to almost zero. At one time we landed on a | | | | look it up in the American Air Almanac. Pilots can get |
| mountain peak near Palm Springs, California. The | | | | this information also from their local Flight Service |
| landing area was not too confined and the student had | | | | Station (FSS). |
| no problem touching down. As we got ready again for | | | | 2. REGULATIONS |
| lift off, visibility dropped rapidly. | | | | In America you don't need an additional night flight |
| Winter operation is another aspect. The snow must | | | | rating to be able to fly at night. All you need is a |
| support the helicopter's weight while blowing snow | | | | current medical and a valid pilot certificate without |
| caused by the rotor downwash can make a save | | | | restrictions. |
| landing impossible. Start up on an icy or slippery | | | | If you want to carry passengers at night, you must |
| surface is another story. | | | | have made at least 3 takeoffs and 3 landings within |
| Flying wise we can forget the height velocity chart. | | | | the preceding 90 days during the period beginning one |
| The safest place for a landing in the mountains was | | | | hour after sunset and ending one hour before sunrise. |
| probably the one we just lifted off. Make shallow | | | | The required landings must have been to a full stop |
| approaches with no flare at the end. If you can hover | | | | and in the same category, class, and type of aircraft |
| out of ground effect you'll have enough power for a | | | | to be used. |
| safe landing. | | | | Night flights under VFR require also additional |
| Proper flight planning is a must. Make notes of | | | | instruments and equipment such as an approved |
| powerlines and other obstacles which are hard to see | | | | anticollision light system. |
| from the air and do not forget to check your | | | | Flying at night over cities such as Los Angeles, San |
| performance charts! | | | | Francisco or New York is an experience you'll never |
| Bottom line, high altitude training is essential for your | | | | forget. |