Definition
A night approach made over terrain with no ground lights or visual features between the aircraft and the runway, leaving the runway as the only lit reference. The lack of surrounding visual cues makes it difficult to judge height, distance, and glide path, and pilots tend to fly a lower-than-normal approach, increasing the risk of striking terrain or obstacles short of the runway.
Plain English
A night approach where everything between you and the runway is pitch dark — no town, no roads, no lights. Without those cues, your eyes can't tell how high or how far out you really are, and it's very easy to come in too low.
Context Anchor
Encountered during night landing approaches, especially over water, unlighted terrain, snow-covered areas, or any area with few ground lights before the runway.
Derivation
Called a 'black-hole approach' because the area between the aircraft and the runway looks like an empty black void — no lights, no shapes, no depth. The runway appears to float in darkness, the way a single object might appear near a black hole in space.
Why Pilots Care
The illusion frequently results in controlled flight into terrain unless the pilot cross-checks instruments and maintains a higher glide path.
Grounding Statement
Picture a lighted runway floating in darkness with no visible ground between you and it; without those ground details, your eyes may misjudge your height.
Intuition Check
Do not assume “black-hole” means the runway cannot be seen. In this term, the runway lights may be visible, but the dark, featureless area around them gives poor height clues.
Example Sentence 1
The instructor warned that the approach into the remote desert strip would be a classic black-hole approach, so they briefed using the GPS vertical path all the way to the runway.
Example Sentence 2
During the night arrival the crew flew a black-hole approach and used the altimeter to confirm they were not descending too low.