Night flying
 

Now is the perfect time of year to do some night flying....practice, get the rating. There will be clear weather, crisp cold air from the Northwest, your power plane incorporates a heater! if you are equipped with the night rating you can make full use of your UK license in North America. It is also simply beautiful flying at night.

Perhaps others can suggest a good place in the UK to fly at night?

Pedant mode/I thought any time of year was fine for night flying? As long as it's night?...:)/pedant mode off.

Yes, but in our wonderfully backward country, most airfields close long before it gets dark throughout most of the year!

Don't know, lucky enough to fly from two that don't...:}

Do you also have this strange concept of magically disappearing airfields at sunset in the UK? I was flying in continental Europe for a while and was always surprised to see airfields legally "vanishing" when sun sets ...

I think it's good that if your home airfield is military or regional airport that it stays open long enough for you to get night flying in.
When I was a member of another airfield, staff needed paying to stay late, if there wasn't enough pilots wanting to fly, it didn't pay to have the fire crew or radio operator remain after their usual finishing time.
I love to fly at night, but I can only do it at weekends, my work stops me night flying during the week, the weather doesn't always permit this! So still waiting to go up this season.

Thing, do share!
 

Do tell us about these two airfields where you fly that don't shut down at night in the UK?

Mary, they are military airfields which would cost you & I a mortgage to land at?

The gentleman may be correct. Hi Trev.

Oxford is open 0630 - 2230, 7 days a week now. Quite useful if you fancy a bit of night flying :ok:

Gamston is open until 1800 every day, chance to get a couple of hours of night trundling in at this time of year.

If this complacent and backward country was a little more open to flying at night (just open those damn uncontrolled airfields 24/7 as they do in Australia or in the US!) I'd have an aircraft with a chute and would probably fly at night most of the time. I just love it and it fits very well with my working hours.

Sadly this is never going to happen. :{

Airfields open at night? Who needs airfields?

Been there, Done it. Didnt enjoy it.

Elstree until 8pm Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Sometimes possible on other days at greater cost.....................

My recent night flying induced a considerable amount of ass pucker. Flew down from the grass strip at Forfar on Sunday to visit a friend at Strathven, ended up leaving later than planned and got wheels up at 3.55pm for the 80 mile flight home, light started fading fast after Glasgow. The route takes me past the extended centerline of Dundee where the fully lit up runway was extremely tempting but decided to push on the final 14 miles. I did check in with Dundee on passing to enquire as to the closing time which was 9pm so I knew I had an option. The light really faded fast thereafter and turning final
at the home field the only thing I could make out was the loch and trees that run parallel to the strip but not the landing zone itself, so it was full flaps in, trimmed right back to 1.2 of VSo then clinched my ass cheeks and waited,,,, best landing I've done in months ! :ok:

Is 'ass pucker' the US equivalent of 'ring twitter'?

Cusco ;)

Why would your airports close just because it's night?

I can think of two airports near Toronto which close late at night, but that's not because it's night, but rather to keep the neighbours happy with no noise after 11PM. All the other airports I can think of are either always open, or have ARCAL lights, so you open it yourself.

Here at home, my wife turns on the runway lights when I text her. I quite enjoy night flying, though I don't make a habit of really long night cross countries any more, unless it's a beauty night over a relatively populated area.

Maybe because people who have been working there all day might want to go home?

In Oz & the US you don't need anyone at the field to be able or allowed to use it. PAL/PCL or HN lights are usually available. Also don't need ATC (or FISO if approved as an alternative by the CAA) at the airfield for instrument approaches.

I think the main issue here is noise what with not being able to fly for more than a minute in any direction without being over some town or vilage.

All you people have luxury problems... In The Netherlands night VFR is simply not allowed. We have to be home before dark :(

... or land at your friendly airfield with a Flugleiter across the border. :)

Is NVFR going to remain banned in NL after SERA becomes effective (which would be tomorrow, as a matter of fact)?

I've heard of several changes, but NVFR was not one of them. The AIC also makes no mention of it: http://www.aopa.nl/wp-content/upload...-2014-07-A.pdf

Nl & UK are in EASA land? so when the UK changed the rules for night from IFR to VFR to allow everyone to carry on as before, why didn't it happen for all those covered by EASA or are we just claiming an exemption?

Aren't there more exceptions than rules in EASA?

It has probably something to do with all the big mountains here in NL, the government doesn't want to risk us flying into them...

Lysanders used to do it a lot but I do think that runway illumination of some sort is a distinct advantage.

You need a number of men in black leather coats carrying flaming torches and a heroine carrying a torch with a red/green piece of gelatine.

North of Scotland is a wonderful place for night flying (training and just for the pleasure of it). Inverness (Dalcross) with access to lots of uncontrolled airspace and uncomplaining neighbours and, frequently, unrestricted visibility under spectacular starlit skies. Oh, and it gets dark early too!

We're lucky if we get a car with its hazard lights on.

Funny you post winter is best time to fly at night.


I would like to fly nights but the geography were I live is not good for that. Airport (PAJN) is open 24 hours controlled 6:00am to 10:00pm with runway lights that are turned on by radio.


Airport is at sea level and mountains rise to 4 to 10 thousand feet all the way down the coast. South East Alaska has unforgiving terrain. No real place to ditch if you have to, rocky shore lines, and steep mountain's.


Summer on a full moon is best here. Daylight 18+ hours, Winter OK with full moon, but it rains/snows so much that there is normally a cloud layer that hangs close to mountain's.


Enjoy your night flying it is few and far between were I live.:)

B19 Sport 1974

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there no such thing as a night rating? Isn't it a night qualification?


Pedantry aside, as part of "operation get my SEP rating back" (which starts with an instructor at 1400 this afternoon) I intend to do some night flying. Even though it isn't a rating in that I have to renew it, I haven't flown at night for nearly 10 years so I want to spend a few hours with an instructor before I fly by myself at night again...

It used to be a rating, then it was a qualification, now it's a rating again:)

Well it depends where you live.

In Australia it's a Night VFR rating. To qualify you have to do a cross-country flight test at night and -- Australia being what it is -- that usually means flying over plenty of dark landscapes.

You also have to demonstrate proficiency with navaids (for track keeping) and my NVFR is endorsed NDB and VOR. There was no GPS in those days.

No doubt some of the requirements may have changed since I did mine many years ago. At the moment I'm not current for night flying but I used to find it most enjoyable.

I believe that once upon a time a NVFR rating was known as a Class 4 instrument rating. I have no idea what was meant by Class 1, 2, 3....

What areas of training are involved in the "night qualification" is it half assed instrument training or just "large dark object creeping up your line of vision and obscuring the lights = bad, large dark object falling away revealing more lights on the ground = good" ?

In my (new) EASA licence, it's actually entered as a rating so yes, it is a rating and not a qualification, as far as EASA goes.

With regards training, I think every flight school will do it slightly differently, when I did mine, we first spent an hour on ground school, discussed things such as human factors as it pertains to eyesight, especially the impact of fixing your sight on a stationary point, loss of night vision due to hypoxia or sudden bright lights (Pax taking flash pictures), legal requirements for a night flight, filing IFR flight plans, the black hole phenomena - in particular when flying to NVFR airfield with nominal lighting - and so forth.

Then the obligatory circuit training - 5 with the instructor, 5 solo (always full stop, no touch and go) followed by night navigation which basically covered VOR radials and the like (no NDBs cos there weren't any in the area) and a 3 hour cross country flight.

Was good fun and I'm hoping New Year's Eve will be a good night for flying, the moon will be nearly full and I'm planning to fly above the Ruhr Valley, videoing the fireworks going off below.....

When I got my license almost 20 years ago it was simply 1 hour flight time, 3 full stop landings and some ground instruction. To remain current you do 3 full stop landings every 90 days. Sounds like the rules are a little more lax in the U.S. vs. Europe.


Have fun:)

"To remain current you do 3 full stop landings every 90 days. Sounds like the rules are a little more lax in the U.S. vs. Europe."

For keeping the rating current, EASA is more lenient than the FAA.
For EASA you need 3 full stop landings, ONE of them must be at night.
FCL.060(b)(2)(i)
Or NONE at all if holding an IR rating: FCL.060(b)(2)(ii)

FAA: ALL of the three take-off and landings must be at night, and no credit for IR.

And to be even more clear: That only applies for carrying passengers.
Flying solo at night has NO currency requirements (FAA or EASA).

Just curious why you are being taught how to file IFR Flight Plans for a VFR qualification?

Wow, thought the U.S. was more lenient. As I stated on an earlier post we don't fly to much at night around here unless the conditions a real good. When I lived in the lower 48 I flew nights and really enjoyed it. We once took pictures of fireworks in Chicago along Lake Michigan on New Years. Flying in South Dakota at night was fun. No GPS in those days just VOR and ADM, and a map of course. Landing light burned out one time, that was interesting.


Have a good one
:)