Respect the Darkness of the Black Hole Departure

The black hole departure can make takeoffs challenging and sometimes downright deadly but doesn't receive the same amount of attention as the black hole approach.

Meg Godlewski

Monday, February 26, 2024 at 04:42 PM ET

Verified

There are a handful of tips you can follow to help mitigate risk when you face a potential black hole departure. [iStock]

Key Takeaways:

"Black hole departures"—takeoffs into dark, featureless environments without visual cues—are an overlooked and dangerous aspect of night VFR flight, frequently leading to spatial disorientation and accidents.
Unlike "black hole approaches" where pilots are often already on instruments, departures can catch pilots unprepared for the rapid transition to instrument flight, increasing the risk of disorientation and fatal outcomes.
To mitigate these risks, pilots must enhance instrument proficiency, practice recognizing and recovering from spatial disorientation, conduct thorough pre-flight planning (including obstacle awareness), and utilize simulators for training, treating night VFR departures essentially as IFR operations.

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Do you remember preparing for your first night flight?

Maybe you’ve read Chapter 17 of the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge and Chapter 11 of the Airplane Flying Handbook, learning about the dangers of spatial disorientation and runway illusions caused by the reduction of visual cues. Most of us read along the way, too, about the black hole approach, where a lack of visual cues on the ground make it challenging for the pilot to find the runway and fly a stable approach. Oddly enough, the other side of the black hole approach—the black hole departure—that can make takeoffs challenging and sometimes downright deadly does not receive the same amount of attention.