Vampire Rules
What You Need to Fly at Night
By James Williams, FAA Safety Briefing Magazine
“The approach of sunset was so very beautiful, so grand in its masses of splendidly-coloured clouds …”
— Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
During last year’s spooky season, I decided to brush up on my classic monster movies and fill in some frankly unforgivable gaps in my movie viewing history. In addition to Universal Studios’ Frankenstein movies, I finally watched one of the Hammer Film Productions’ Dracula movies. Hammer is famous for their gothic horror films, particularly from the 1950s through the 1970s. During the film, Dr. Van Helsing explains the rules for dealing with vampires. The most obvious is the “allergy” to sunlight. This relegates the vampire to strictly nighttime operations. But as pilots, nighttime operations aren’t the curse of Dracula. As we explore in this issue, night flying can be a very pleasant experience. But we have some additional “vampire rules” to deal with before we prowl the night sky.
The Approach of Sunset
Before we dig into the letter of the law, so to speak, of night flying, let’s discuss some general preparations that can be helpful. Even if you are already an experienced pilot but haven’t done any night flying lately, getting in some practice with an instructor is always a good idea. In fact, if you’re an active pilot who doesn’t fly much at night, it would also be a great idea to schedule a few lessons a year to keep yourself from getting too rusty. Even if you don’t intend to fly at night, it’s a cheap insurance policy because you never know when your day flight might get delayed into the evening.
If you aren’t familiar with the model or type of aircraft you intend to fly, you may want to find a time during daylight hours to do a walk around with an experienced pilot to get a good reference for what to look for in your preflight.
There are also some considerations regarding your aircraft to account for. If you aren’t familiar with the model or type of aircraft you intend to fly, you may want to find a time during daylight hours to do a walk around with an experienced pilot to get a good reference for what to look for in your preflight. While it’s perfectly fine to preflight after dark, you will likely benefit from more light during your initial walkthrough. Another preflight task that can be helpful if you don’t own the aircraft is to take a quick look at the aircraft logs for any squawks, particularly regarding the electrical system and instruments.
The Dark Side of Twilight
We can put away the garlic and silver because our vampire rules are more focused on aeronautical experience and required equipment. But first, we need to establish what night is according to the FAA. Per Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), section 1.1: “Night means the time between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight, as published in the Air Almanac, converted to local time.”
The Air Almanac
The Air Almanac contains the astronomical data required for air celestial navigation. The book provides the following data tabulated at 10-minute intervals to a precision of 1 arcminute: the Greenwich hour angle and declination of the Sun, Moon, and three navigational planets; the Greenwich hour angle of Aries; rise and set times of the Moon for a range of latitudes; and other data. Each edition also contains sky diagrams for each month; sunrise, sunset, and twilight tables; and positions of the navigational stars. The Air Almanac is available nine months in advance of its edition date.
Beginning with the 2008 edition, the Air Almanac is available only in PDF format. It is expected that those requiring a paper copy of certain pages will have access to a printer. Starting with the 2015 edition, users may download the entire almanac free of charge, although the CD is still available for purchase through the Government Publishing Office (GPO).
— Astronomical Applications Department, U.S. Navy
Hopping over to the National Weather Service for our next definition, civil twilight begins in the morning, and ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon. To translate that into something more usable for those of us without a sextant, it means light conditions under which objects can generally be discerned without artificial light, barring any obscuration like clouds or fog. You can easily find the times online by quickly searching for your location and civil twilight.
As for what you need to prowl the night sky, let’s first look at rules for the pilot. Foremost, you must meet your certificate’s training requirements (i.e., 3 hours of training at night, 100 nautical mile nighttime cross country, etc., for a private pilot). But for the purposes of this article, we’re going to assume you have a pilot certificate without any night flying restrictions.
Our next hurdle is night currency. Before you can act as pilot in command (PIC), you must meet the requirements of 14 CFR section 61.57(b). Namely, three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop as the sole manipulator of the flight controls in the same category, class, and type of aircraft during the period one hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise. Note the slight definitional difference between night as defined in section 1.1 and the period required by section 61.57. These times may or may not line up as civil twilight will vary. So, you could have a time where it’s technically night per 1.1 but does not meet the time required by 61.57 to perform night currency tasks.
While our trusty aircraft doesn’t care whether it’s day or night, we do have some additional requirements for our craft to operate safely. In addition to all the required equipment for a daytime flight under visual flight rules (VFR) per section 91.205(b), section 91.205(c) adds approved position lights, an approved anticollision light system, an adequate source of electrical energy for all installed radios and equipment, spare fuses if required, and one electric landing light if operated for hire at night. There are even more equipment requirements for instrument flight rules (IFR) flights. The list makes a lot of sense; frankly, most of those things are already equipped on many aircraft. But it’s important to make sure those bases are covered.
Another operational concern is fuel reserves, which move from 30 to 45 minutes per section 91.151(a)2. Also, if you intend to use special VFR (SVFR) at night, you must hold an instrument rating, be current, and have an aircraft that meets the IFR requirements in section 91.205(d).
While it’s perfectly fine to preflight after dark, you will likely benefit from more light during your initial walkthrough.
Enter Freely and Of Your Own Free Will!
Night flying can be a wonderful experience, and you may even come to prefer it. But there are factors that can make it more challenging, like the lack of visual references and encountering visual illusions. This emphasizes using instruments in combination with what references do exist. But once you get the hang of it, you will open up a whole new chapter in your flying adventure. Elsewhere in these pages (physical or digital) you can find additional tips to up your night flying expertise. Soon, you will freely enter the night, not as a castle of horror, but as a comfortable second home.
James Williams is FAA Safety Briefing’s associate editor and photo editor. He is also a pilot and ground instructor.
