CASA night VFR rating: night definition, hours and recency

How CASA defines night

The CASR Dictionary defines night as "the period between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of the following morning civil twilight". Geoscience Australia defines the end of evening civil twilight as the instant "when the centre of the Sun is at a depression angle of six degrees (6°) below an ideal horizon", and the beginning of morning civil twilight by the same angle. Night therefore starts after sunset and ends before sunrise, by a margin that varies with latitude and season.

For your logbook, 61.345(3)(i) asks "whether the flight was by day or night, or both". A flight that takes off in daylight and lands after the end of evening civil twilight is both. Part 61 does not list night hours as a logbook item. The night VFR rating needs 10 hours at night (61.975) and the aeroplane ATPL needs 100 hours at night "as pilot of an aeroplane, other than dual flight" (61.705(1)(f)), so log the night portion in hours and minutes. For a simulator session, 61.345(4)(e) asks whether it ran in simulated day or night conditions, or both.

Who needs a night VFR rating

Table 61.375 item 3 lists "an operation at night under the VFR" as an activity needing a night VFR rating or an instrument rating. 61.955 authorises a licence holder with the rating to fly at night under the VFR other than in a night vision imaging system operation or a night aerial application operation below 500 ft AGL.

61.375(8) covers two licences without the rating. An aeroplane ATPL holder may fly an aeroplane at night under the VFR without an instrument rating, and an aeroplane MPL holder may do so in a multi-crew operation. CASA's AC 61-05 says the aeroplane ATPL's privileges include night VFR, with a current proficiency check. It also notes that a helicopter ATPL does not include night VFR, so that holder needs an instrument rating or a night VFR rating with the helicopter endorsement, and that a private instrument rating holder needs a night VFR rating for night VFR.

Getting the rating

61.975 requires a PPL, CPL or ATPL, the requirements for at least one night VFR endorsement, and "as a pilot, at least 10 hours of aeronautical experience at night in an aircraft or an approved flight simulation training device for the purpose, including at least 5 hours of dual cross-country flight time at night under the VFR in an aircraft", then the flight test in the Part 61 Manual of Standards. The 5 hours must include at least 2 flights, each with a landing at an aerodrome other than the departure aerodrome "that is remote from extensive ground lighting" (61.975(3)).

The endorsement sets the aircraft. For the single-engine aeroplane night VFR endorsement, table 61.980 asks for at least 5 hours of night experience as pilot of an aeroplane or approved device, "including at least one hour of dual flight and one hour of solo night circuits", and at least 3 hours of dual instrument time. The multi-engine aeroplane endorsement asks the same of a multi-engine aeroplane. The helicopter endorsement asks for 3 hours of dual flight within the 5.

Keeping it valid: recency and the flight review

61.965 lets you use the rating in a category only if, within the previous 6 months, you conducted at least one night take-off and one night landing in that category "while controlling the aircraft", or a flight instructor with a night VFR training endorsement assessed you as competent at night in that category. Carrying passengers at night is a separate rule: 3 night take-offs and 3 night landings in 90 days under 61.395(2), covered in the Off Chocks guide "CASA recency rules: CASR 61.395, 61.870 and the flight reviews". AC 61-05 notes there is no regulated instrument flying recency for night VFR.

61.970 needs, within the previous 24 months, a night VFR flight review, the rating flight test, a night VFR endorsement flight test passed more than 6 months after the rating test, an operator proficiency check covering night VFR, or approved training and checking participation, all in the same category. For a multi-engine aeroplane at night it must be in a multi-engine aeroplane or approved simulator (61.970(2)).

The regulation says "within the previous 24 months", and CASA's flight reviews page says a review "is valid for 2 years from the day you completed it". AC 61-05's worked example runs a rating test passed on 15 February 2015 to 28 February 2017, the end of the month. Book the review before the anniversary and you meet every reading. CASA's page limits the 3-month early renewal, which keeps the old expiry date, to class and type rating reviews.