How to Winterize Your Flying

When you tell someone you are a pilot and live in a state that has predominantly IFR conditions November through March, they inevitably make a reference to all flight training ceasing in the winter because of the weather. And there is some truth to this, as I learned as a student pilot in the Pacific Northwest.

Seattle leads the nation in cloudy and foggy days, according to weather statistics gathered by Currentresults.com, coming in with 226 cloudy and 165 foggy days per year, followed closely by Portland, Oregon, with 165 cloudy and 125 foggy. Combine a low ceiling with a low freezing level, and you will find a great many general aviation pilots opt to stay on the ground, planning to fly on a better weather day.

This Article First Appeared in FLYING Magazine

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Although winter brings shorter days, colder temperatures, rain, snow, and fog, flying doesn’t have to come to a halt when the number of VFR days seasonally diminishes. You just have to be more creative and dedicated to protecting your skills—especially if you don’t have the time, flexibility, and resources to fly at the drop of a headset several times a week.

Time Challenges of Winter Flying

Shorter days mean less daylight for flying, and while there is no rule that states flight training has to be done in the daylight, it’s often what most schools prefer, often for liability reasons. For this reason they also require a night checkout for rental pilots as well.

Chapter 11 of the Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C) covers night flying. One of the first challenges is identifying “night.” For that we reach for Chapter 1 of the Federal Aviation Regulations/Aeronautical Information Manual (FAR/AIM), section 1.1, Definitions and Abbreviations, where we find it means the “time between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight, as published in the Air Almanac, converted to local time. Civil twilight is defined as the time when the center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon. The end of civil twilight is when night begins.” To make that simpler, night begins 30 minutes after sunset.

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You can find sunset and sunrise times online (timeanddate.com, for example). For pilot currency, we refer to 14 CFR part 61, section 61.57(b)(1), addressing night operations that meet recent flight experience requirements. The regulation states that for currency you need to make three takeoffs and landings to a full stop at night to receive night flying privileges.

Although the airplane cannot tell if it is being operated in the day or night, flying at night is definitely different for the pilot, as vision is diminished in low-light situations.

The FAR/AIM goes on to caution that night flying operations should not be encouraged or attempted except by certificated pilots with knowledge of and experience with night flying. You can’t see clouds in the dark, and most ground landmarks—for example, a particular park you usually report over when on approach to your airport.

CFIs: Teach your learners to look for multiple ways of identifying a landmark and distances from the airport. If they can’t see the landmark, perhaps an unlighted park below them because it blends in with the dark of the undeveloped shoreline, teach them to identify the outline of house lights and understand that puts them X number of miles from the airport.

Weather is another thing that deserves extra attention in the winter and especially at night.

When you receive your weather briefing, pay attention to the type of front moving in, the direction it’s coming from, and how fast it’s moving, along with the temperature and freezing level. Frequently update the weather using the local altimeter settings, pulling the ATIS and AWOS information from airports you are passing by during the flight. Remember that the imagery captured by apps is dated information—up to 20 minutes out of date sometimes—so you cannot rely on it to keep you clear of clouds and precipitation.

Keep a careful eye on outside temperature, and use pitot heat, propeller heat, and carburetor heat judiciously. You often can’t see ice forming on the aircraft without light, so you have to cover one eye to preserve night vision and use a flashlight with a lens other than white to illuminate the aircraft surface. 

Pro tip: Ice often forms on the skin of the aircraft over the fuel tanks. You will be able to see the outline of the fuel in frost on the exterior.

Get better prepared for a night flight by studying the route and the approaches into the airport, be they VFR or IFR, in advance. Take special note of obstructions in the vicinity, especially those on the approach.

If it has been a while since you’ve been out in the dark, find a night current and comfortable CFI to accompany you on the recurrency flight. Keep in mind that some flight schools and FBOs require an additional flight with one of their instructors if you want night flying privileges.

Planning for All Pilots—Including CFIs

It doesn’t matter how many hours you have logged. If you take a break from flying, you not only lose currency, you lose proficiency.

That means everyone, including flight instructors, some of whom may be embarking on their first winter season in the right seat. Unless you are working in one of the sunny and dry markets such as Nevada, Arizona, and parts of California, you can expect fewer hours flown, which also likely means a smaller paycheck until winter loosens its grip. That translates to less of an opportunity (read that as money) to keep current and proficient unless you are working at a business that allows CFIs to do currency and proficiency flights for free.

Many CFIs find themselves getting in a takeoff and landing while working with a client during a flight lesson. If these are pure currency or proficiency rather than demonstration, the bill for the flight should reflect this. On those rare, clear winter days, keep your head on a swivel, as everyone, from the still current to the rusty-as-a-bucket types will be in the sky to reset the currency clock.

If the school has an Advanced Aviation Training Device (AATD), commonly referred to as a simulator, use it with your learners.

More interactive than a ground lesson, less expensive than an aircraft, not subject to outside weather restrictions, and often a better classroom than an airplane, AATDs are a valuable tool to supplement the aircraft experience. They are also a great way to keep your instrument skills sharp. Make use of them if you’re waiting around for a walk-in or the student cancels at the last minute due to weather. 

Go ahead and shoot an approach, practice a hold, and track a course. Don’t waste that trip to the airport.

Allow More Time for Preflight

One of the cruel axioms is that time spent on preflight preparation and inspection is longer than the time you get in the air, as the aircraft may need to be deiced and preheated. This is especially true if the method of deicing is heat and time. Be sure to plan for this extra ground time.

Make certain the airplane’s exhaust system is in good condition and that it has a reliable carbon monoxide (CO) detection device on board. These range from battery-operated or plug-in devices to the one-time-use card.

If you have such a device, respect what it tells you as CO is nothing to mess with. I say this after having a “how long before it gets too bad?” discussion with a pilot who wears a Lightspeed Delta Zulu, the headset that includes an audible warning about CO in the cockpit well before it reaches critical and deadly levels.

He described getting the activation and then spending the better part of 20 minutes debating on whether or not he should land immediately or push on to his destination, which “wasn’t too far away.” Seriously, if you get a warning about carbon monoxide in the cockpit, be it audio or visual, land as soon as practical—don’t take chances.

Self-Selecting Downtime

For many owners, winter is the time of year their aircraft goes in for annual inspection and upgrades.

If you don’t want to stay on the ground during this period, make an appointment at the local flight school to get rental privileges. This usually consists of taking an open book test and one hour of flight with one of their CFIs. If it has been a long time since you received dual instruction, or you’re in need of a flight review (or getting close), take advantage of the opportunity. Make a list of maneuvers you haven’t done in a long time, and go out and do them.

If you have an instrument rating, review IFR procedures. If you don’t have an instrument rating, get some hood time—and always practice emergencies.

If you can’t get to the airport, go online and take a FAASTeam course that interests you. Or do research into your next certificate or rating or maybe even that long trip you want to take or that new airplane you want to buy.

You may find that keeping your head in the cockpit will make it easier to regain proficiency when spring finally comes. 

This column first appeared in the December Issue 965 of the FLYING print edition.