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4 Answers

Avoiding Terrain at Night

Asked by: 1837 views General Aviation

What do you guys normally do to ensure that you’re not going to hit terrain while starting descent in the downwind at night? There are many airports that I’ve been to where you have to turn base early to avoid hitting a hill. But if you’re landing at that airport at night, you may not be aware of any hills. 

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4 Answers



  1. Russ Roslewski on Aug 26, 2022

    Always try to fly to a new airport during the day (especially when it’s mountainous). Take a look around. Check out the local terrain.

    If you don’t like what you see during the day, it’s pretty simple, just don’t fly there at night.

    If I had to turn base early to avoid hitting a hill, you can bet I wouldn’t fly there at night. Or I would fly an instrument approach if they had one.

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  2. John D Collins on Aug 26, 2022

    In addition to Russ’s advice, I don’t start a descent from downwind, I wait until on base. If the airport has IFR approaches with circle to land minimums, stay inside the circling minimums until the base to final turn. If the approach has the note Circling NA at night for the runway you intend to use, use either a straight in approach procedure (assuming it is not also NA at night), or ideally stay above a VGSI indication when on final. Giveaway’s that obstructions are a hazard include high MDA/DA on approach procedures, NA at night indications, lack of circling MDA, the note “Visual Segment – Obstacles”, and or visibility greater than or equal to 1 SM required. Even though this information is found on IFR approach procedures, they are helpful for a VFR pilot. If the airport does not have any approach procedures, you are on your own and unless you were intimately familiar with the airport and its environment, don’t use it at night.

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  3. Russ Roslewski on Aug 26, 2022

    John,
    The lack of a circling MDA being established doesn’t really have anything to do with obstacles in most cases. The FAA has been removing circling minimums from many approaches in the last few years if there is a similar approach to the other runway(s). It’s not related to obstacles, it’s just policy.

    Another way to know if there is obstacles is to see if there is a helicopter visibility note. If helicopter visibility reduction is limited to 1 SM, then that means there are penetrations of the 20:1 surface. This typically wouldn’t rise to the level of a mountain on base, but would mean terrain and/or towers/buildings on short final. This note is only applied to the straight-in runway though.

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  4. John D Collins on Aug 27, 2022

    Russ,

    I did not comment on the lack of a circling minimum, just when there are circling minimums, as they provide protection from obstacles while at the circling MDA and when inside the circling area.

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