Originally Posted by
Airhoss
Actually having an engine failure and making a dead stick landing off field is a wake up call to stop doing stupid stuff.
As is the experience of a vacuum failure, gyro failure, electrical failure, etc.
Single engine night...just how does one see to make a forced landing? Just how many backup electrical sources does one have? How much performance? How much capability? How many vacuum sources? How much backup instrumentation? What level of redundancy?
Single engine IFR is much the same.
Single pilot IFR is among the most demanding flying a pilot can do. Single engine single pilot IFR all the more so, and at night; one can stack the deck and move the proverbial swiss cheese around just enough that the holes align. It doesn't take much.
I rarely hear an experienced aviator talk enthusiastically about single engine night IMC, but I hear a lot of inexperienced ones defend the practice. Why is that?