Flying in daylight or flying at night?

[monkeyshaved]

I'm interesting to find out people's preferences for flying by daylight or at night - do people prefer daylight, where you can see where you're going during any turbulence, or do people believe that flying at night is smoother? What's your preference and why?

[tb_neg]

I like to see where I'm going, but weather tends to be a bit better at night, so it might be smoother. Also, during the day, more planes are in the air so people have a better idea of conditions.

[747Fan]

I like to think that the weather is calmer at night. In addition, I like to think or believe that since less planes fly at night ATC has more wiggle room in allowing you to deviate to higher or lower altitudes to avoid turbulence.

I started both sentences as "I like to think" as I'm sure I can be proven wrong!

[tb_neg]

I too, would like to think that your assumptions are correct, and I think they are, but it does vary.

[lynnhopes]

Definitely I find nightime smoother.

[dilbert.rules]

YEP, the very best times to fly are either EARLYAM or after dark. I like to be able to see, but if you are getting banged around in cloud deck anyway, there's no difference.

I agree that there is a better "picture" of the areas to avoid at night and better ability to deviate. In Spring / Summer EARLY AM or AFTER DARK is best to avoid thermal turbulence and thunderstorm delays.

[daniel_T]

Hi there, I love flying in the daytime because you get to see a lot of the world. When I know the turbulence is going to be rough, I try to fly at night. Not seeing the ground shaking around helps me a lot.

[Brave]

It's a toss up. Flying at night is typically smoother, but darkness and fear (caused by turbulence) is not a good mix. In daylight you can at least ascertain whether the turbulence is caused by clear air or clouds, thus you can possibly gauge when it might stop. The sun is also somewhat comforting.

Conversely, since there's less traffic at night, there's much less chance that the pilot needs to circle the airport in a holding pattern. Moreover, pilots tend to "nose dive" on decent to make up time if they're behind. The G force of this maneuver can sometimes be as bad as turbulence.

[oweston12]

I like to fly during the day as much as possible to see what is going on. I like to be able to see what we are going over. When you are over a mountain or flying through clouds and strart to rock you know why for the most part. I did not know that flying at night will have less rocking than during the day. I really like to fly early early mornings.

[easr]

super early has always been smoothest for me, followed by evening.

[Smooth Sailing]

I've had a few evening flights that were completely bump free, not even a light jolt on climb out or descent. Has never happened in the daytime because of thermals and the sun.

Nighttime also seems more predictable. If weather looks good/bad, the ride seems to meet expectations. I've had day flights with ominous warnings from the pilot where we sailed through the clouds with no problem, and others with perfect weather where there was annoying, continuous light the whole way.