What Are The Odds?

It was a good, late fall night for flying. Dark, but clear and crisp, with light winds. I was flogging a nearly new Skyhawk from the Washington, D.C., area along V222 down to Asheville, N.C., for a weekend in the mountains. The flight was smooth, so far, with the autopilot-less hawk needing only a gentle nudge every now and then to maintain altitude and heading. So far, the needles told me I was keeping it right on the airways centerline. The cabin heater was keeping us warm, the engine was droning along and my passenger was sleeping. We had another hour or so before starting to let down from our cruising altitude of 8000 feet. There was plenty of gas and ATC wasnt busy. The panel lights were turned way down. All was right with the world. As I neared the end of a very long airway leg terminating at Hickory, N.C., I could see the citys lights ahead. I also could see one particular light, waving around-a searchlight. Some used car dealer having a sale, no doubt.

Key Takeaways:

• A pilot on a night flight encountered a powerful, randomly waving searchlight directly in the aircraft's path, causing concern about its potential to disrupt night vision.
• Despite considering evasive maneuvers, the pilot maintained course and was briefly "nailed" by the searchlight, resulting in an instantaneous, though temporary, loss of night vision.
• The incident, while short-lived and without serious consequence to the flight, served as a stark reminder of the unexpected hazards ground-based light sources can pose to pilots and the sudden nature of aviation's "moments of stark terror."

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