by rtataryn » Sun Sep 18, 2016 8:38 am
This flight was very educational for me. The weather was CAVU, so I flew this leg VFR with ATC advisories, leaving Bullhead at sunset and arriving KTRM just after dark. As I was descending into the Coachella Valley and the sky was darkening, I had the lights of Thermal easily in sight and was switched to CTAF. I continued a wide descent from the east to cross midfield for a left downwind runway 35. Turning downwind into the pattern, facing south to pure blackness of the Salton Sea, I lost all outside visual references. So I find myself at only 1000 AGL, with nearby mountainous terrain, entirely relying on instruments for orientation to keep the wings upright. I should have just climbed to the south and shot an instrument approach, but I foolishly kept turning and looking for the airport, at one time descending to 500 AGL while my eyes were off the panel looking for the airport lights. Night flying, particularly in sparsely populated areas, is equivalent to IMC, and from now on, I'll file IFR, or at least shoot an instrument approach after dark in these places.
Rod
PPL, Instrument, ASEL, ASES
2013 Cirrus SR22T N877MS
2018 Icon A5 N509BA
1946 Piper J3 Cub N7121H