Single Engine at Night abroad

[RodgerF]

Does anyone know if Single Engine flight at night is allowed in France and Eire?

Many years ago someone claimed that it was prohibited in France.

[Chilli Monster]

Privately or Commercially?

Privately it's not. In France however night VFR, be it single or multi engined, is confined to specified airports / airfields and routes.

Commercial operations are a different matter - you'll find a lot of air carrier / air cargo operations are not permitted with single's in JAR land. The industry is pushing to have that changed due to the proven reliability of the new breed of turbine single's (TBM 700, Cessna Caravan, that sort of thing).

[DFC]

Ireland has the same system as the UK - All flights by night must be IFR.

Regards,

DFC

[RodgerF]

Thanks for the replies. IFR was implied in my question. I was just wondering if single engined flight at night was prohibited completely.

R

[2Donkeys]

No particular restrictions are placed on IFR at night in single engined aircraft in either France or Ireland. As Chilli Monster says, to fly Night VFR in France requires adherence to some truly awkward weather minima and a number of published routings. In the North of France at least, this combination makes NVFR unreliable as a means of getting anywhere. IFR is fine though, providing you are instrument rated. You may well be aware of this already but IFR flight in France requires an instrument rating regardless of the prevailing met conditions.

In a slight addendum to DFC's earlier post

Ireland has the same system as the UK - All flights by night must be IFR.

this is not strictly true. SVFR flight is permitted within Control Zones, which permits non-IR pilots to enjoy the pleasures of Night Flight.

2D

[spekesoftly]

Ireland has the same system as the UK - All flights by night must be IFR. this is not strictly true. SVFR flight is permitted within Control Zones, which permits non-IR pilots to enjoy the pleasures of Night Flight.


I'm getting a little confused here. The original question refers to Eire. I was under the impression that Dublin, for example, do not issue SVFR clearances, but perhaps I'm mistaken, or out of date?

[2Donkeys]

I think we are all talking about Southern Ireland - even if some insist on calling it Eire.

Southern Ireland requires all night flights to be IFR - the exception is that flights in CTZs may be offered an SVFR clearance. This permits flights captained by pilots without an IR to operate at night, although it effectively forces the flight to remain within the CTZ and puts the mockers on any real cross-country.

Whether or not the authorities in a particular CTZ will grant an SVFR clearance is a matter of controller discretion and published policy. I've never needed to fly into Dublin on an SVFR clearance, but I am not aware of any prohibition of SVFR clearances in that CTZ.

2D

[whatsarunway]

Also you must have a night rating,

I thought you could fly night vfr in the uk on private flights,

new rule? or always the way?

[2Donkeys]

I thought you could fly night vfr in the uk on private flights

No nice way to put this - you thought wrong. There is no Night VFR in the UK. There is IFR and there is SVFR in Control Zones for those unable or unwilling to comply with IFR.

There is also no night rating now. There is the confusingly named night qualification though.

2D

[whatsarunway]

what can you do with a night qualifation then?

[foghorn]

It qualifies you to fly at night.

Sorry not a petty answer, it's just that the UK generally ties licence priveledges to prevailing meteorological conditions, not to flight rules, so a vanilla PPL can fly IFR in VMC by day in Class G if they want, and significantly a vanilla PPL + Night qual can fly IFR in VMC at night in Class G.

So a PPL with night qual but no instrument rating can fly at night in the UK, even though there is no night VFR allowed.

If you need access to control zones you switch to SVFR at the zone boundary, which is also allowed at night on a vanilla PPL + night qual.

Confused? Many UK night qualification holders are, more to the point. In my humble opinion this whole IFR/VFR/IMC/VMC business along with the UK's general schema of airspace classification is ripe for reform.