Simviation Forums

so i was on my way home from band practice tonight and was watching a 737 make its approach and noticed it was flying really slow, do planes fly slower at night cause its harder to see them or what not, cause i know here in oklahoma you drive 5mph slower at night than during the day so was just curious if aircraft do the same.

thanks,
Jackie

Hi there!

Due to noise-abatement regulations planes may stabilize at their final speed earlier than normal, but speeds would remain unchanged overall.

Maybe he had a strong head-wind.

Yeah, it's got nothing to do with darkness. I found during my 3 or so hrs of night VFR in Cessnas that if anything, other planes are much easier to spot in the dark- their lights are highly visible, as long as the weather's good. Same goes for airports- if there's a beacon or approach lights, they jump right out of the ground clutter at you, even in urban areas.

Same goes for airports- if there's a beacon or approach lights, they jump right out of the ground clutter at you, even in urban areas.

I dunno-I have something like 4.5 hours of night flying around the Philadelphia area (1.5 x-country) and I always have trouble finding the airports, every time.  I can spot them much easier in the daytime.

But thats just me.

one of the test question that the faa can ask on the written is on this topic.

 

VFR approaches to land at night should be accomplished

a. at a higher speed
b. with a steeper descent
c. the same as during daytime

correct answer is c.  the same as during daytime

now in ifr approach control may tell you to fly the approach at a certian speed to sequence other aircraft.  but a pilot with half a brain would let the control know that he can not fly the approach at an unsafe speed if the controller told him to reduce speed to something below the appoach speed of the aircraft.