night landing
Touching down dark
A night landing is the act of bringing an aircraft or vessel down to rest after dark.
The term appears most often in aviation and naval contexts, where reduced visibility makes the maneuver considerably more demanding than daytime operations: Carrier night landings are among the most difficult tasks a pilot can perform.
The phrase sometimes appears figuratively for any delicate operation undertaken with limited information.
- runwayPaved path for planes
- runway lightsIlluminated aircraft landing guides
- touch downMake contact with ground
- touchdownSix-point gridiron play
- darknessTotal absence of light
pitch black · approach · final approach · lights · aircraft · descent · pilot · cockpit · flight deck · flare · threshold · glideslope · headlights · tarmac · beacon · instruments · moonlight · carrier
- landingstouchdown, touch and go, controlled descent, splashdown, ditching