Prepare for: Night Cross-Country
The required dual night cross-country of over 100 NM total distance: planning, lighting, fuel and navigating in the dark.
Your CFI's syllabus and your airplane's POH come first. This page is a general study aid to help you show up prepared.
What you'll do
- Plan it like a day cross-country, but choose checkpoints you can see at night: lit towns, highways, beacons and airports.
- Check the destination's lighting and pilot-controlled lighting frequency, and any NOTAMs about lights.
- Plan fuel with the night reserve: enough to reach the destination plus 45 minutes at normal cruise (91.151).
- Pick higher altitudes over dark terrain, and know the terrain heights along the route.
- Use VOR or GPS to back up pilotage, and consider flight following.
- Private requirement (61.109(a)(2)(i)): one night cross-country flight of over 100 NM total distance, as part of the 3 hours of night training.
The standard you'll be held to
Quoted from the current FAA Airman Certification Standards for each level that tests this.
Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C)Task PA.XI.A · Night Operations
See this task in the official ACS.
Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C)Task PA.VI.A · Pilotage and Dead Reckoning
- Prepare and use a flight log.
- Navigate by pilotage.
- Navigate by means of pre-computed headings, groundspeeds, elapsed time, and reference to landmarks or checkpoints.
- Use the magnetic direction indicator in navigation, including turns to headings.
- Verify position within three nautical miles of the flight-planned route.
- Arrive at the en route checkpoints within five minutes of the initial or revised estimated time of arrival (ETA) and provide a destination estimate.
- Maintain the selected altitude, ±200 feet and heading, ±15°.
Prepare the night before
- Plan the route with the flight planner and a full nav log.
- Get a weather briefing, with attention to temperature/dew point spread (fog risk) and clouds you could fly into at night.
- Read the night flying and vision lesson.
Common mistakes
- Choosing checkpoints you won't be able to see at night.
- Planning only the 30-minute day fuel reserve.
- Flying low over dark, unlit terrain.
Questions to ask your instructor
- Where should we go for my night cross-country?
- What's our plan if the weather closes in at night?
- How do you handle an electrical failure at night?
Related lessons
Night flying and visionPrivate Pilot course · 9 min read
Pilotage, dead reckoning and the wind trianglePrivate Pilot course · 11 min read
Check yourself
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