Night takeoffs and landings
Flying a stabilized approach without depth cues, judging the roundout, and the 61.57(b) currency rule that lets you carry passengers.
12 min read · Night flying
After this lesson you can
- State the exact 61.57(b) requirement for carrying passengers at night, including the currency window and what counts.
- Fly a stabilized night approach using the altimeter, VSI, and a visual glidepath indicator instead of a sight picture alone.
- Identify the visual cue that should trigger the roundout at night, with and without a landing light.
- List the FAA's recommended steps for avoiding landing errors caused by night optical illusions.
Everything about a night landing is normal flying technique -- the same airspeeds, the same configuration, the same traffic pattern -- except for the one thing darkness removes: the ability to judge height above the runway in the final few seconds before touchdown by looking at the ground.
The fix is not to guess better. It is to make the roundout depend less on perception in the first place, by flying an approach so stable that the roundout becomes a small, predictable adjustment rather than a last-second correction.
The rest of this lesson
- 1.Night currency: 14 CFR 61.57(b)
- 2.Flying a stabilized approach
- 3.The roundout without depth perception
- 4.Using the landing light
- 5.Preventing landing errors from illusions
- 6.Training for it
These 6 sections, their figures, the checks along the way and the end-of-lesson quiz come with the CPL track. Paid once, yours for good.
Key terms
Try to recall each definition before turning the card.