Night rating at this time of year

[jameslongworth]

Does anybody know where in the UK I can get a night rating at this time of year?!

AAAgggghhhhh!

[Farrell]

Yep.....

You could try Bermuda, Monserrat or the Turks and Caicos - or even the Falklands! :}

[jameslongworth]

lol - i was thinking of something a little closer to Edinburgh!!

[Blinkz]

in scotland you don't have many options, so just call all of them (5 schools is it? :E ) and ask. :ok:

[jameslongworth]

I've checked the obvious places... hence asking the forum!!!

[smith]

try www.prestwick-flight-centre.com

[metar]

Yeh tried them but to no avail. Any ideas for clubs in England?

I mean what kind of muppet would want a night rating at this time of year! :)

[FlyingForFun]

Simple - find an instructor who's willing to do the flying, and an airport which is open 24 hours!

For the right price (i.e. covering my travel and accomodation costs, as well as the inconvenience of being away from home late at night and my normal instructional fees), I could probably be pursuaded to spend a couple of nights at somewhere like Prestwick and do the course with you if you can provide an aeroplane.

Alternatively, if you came down to Blackpool we could do the course from down here - the training would have to be at somewhere like Liverpool or Leeds, so you'd have to pay to ferry the aircraft over from Blackpool, and for overnight parking, since Blackpool airport closes at 9pm (unless you want to pay a large fee to keep Blackpool airport open out of hours, which might work out cheaper than ferrying an aircraft somewhere else, I don't know).

Don't expect it to be cheap, but contact me if you want to look into the prices of the various options.

FFF
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[Lasiorhinus]

What.... you mean airports actually CLOSE over there? You can't land at them after hours?
Wow... I'm sure used to towers closing for the night, but the airspace just reverts to class G and you can still come and go as you please..

[bfato]

Maybe so Lasiorhinus, but here training needs to be conducted when the aerodrome is licensed. And ours become unlicensed when the fire cover goes home.

[ChocksAwayUK]

I was all set to do it (during the week of summer solstice :}) with Stapleford's instructor and aircraft but at Southend airport (as Stapleford is closed in the evening). In the end i managed to do it in the US though.

It would have cost the best part of 1k unforch. If you're interested call Emma Drakeford at Stapleford - she was a great help in sorting it all out for me.

[metar]

That sounds like a good idea... pity about the grand though!

[FlyingForFun]

Bfato - actually, since the training is for a "qualification" and not a "rating", my understanding is that it does not need to be carried out a licensed airfield, although I may be wrong on that one.

However, unlike the US where airports are public facilities, UK airports are privately owned, and it is therefore entirely at the discretion of the owner when they are available. Lots of smaller airfields can be used out of hours with permission from the owner, but I don't know of too many larger airports where that is the case. Certainly at Blackpool, all movements (whether they require a licensed field or not) are banned outside hours, unless you pay to keep the airport open. I know of very few UK airfields which are available at night outside of hours, because we don't have that fantastic pilot-operated lighting system which is so common the US - those airfields which are available at night either have someone in the tower to turn the lights on, or else they are only available to pilots who are based there and know where the switch for the lights is so they can turn the lights on before they go!

FFF
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[BillieBob]

my understanding is that it does not need to be carried out a licensed airfield, although I may be wrong on that one. Correct FFF - You're wrong!

ANO Article 101 requires a licensed aerodrome to be used for:
(b)
(iii) flights for the purpose of:
(aa) instruction in flying given to any person for the purpose of becoming qualified for the grant of a pilot’s licence or the inclusion of an aircraft rating, a night rating or a night qualification in a licence; or
(bb) a flying test in respect of the grant of a pilot’s licence or the inclusion of an aircraft rating, a night rating or a night qualification in a licence

[FlyingForFun]

Ok - thanks for the correction, BB, but it doesn't alter the rest of my post :)

FFF
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