Night aviation regulations in the United States are administered and enforced by the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

(FAA). Unlike many countries, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

places no special restrictions on VFR

flying Flying may refer to: * Flight, the process of flying * Aviation, the creation and operation of aircraft Music Albums * '' Flying (Cody Fry album)'', 2017 * ''Flying'' (Grammatrain album), 1997 * ''Flying'' (Jonathan Fagerlund album), 2008 * ...

at night.

Definitions

Three different

concept A concept is an abstract idea that serves as a foundation for more concrete principles, thoughts, and beliefs. Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, ...

s of "

night Night, or nighttime, is the period of darkness when the Sun is below the horizon. Sunlight illuminates one side of the Earth, leaving the other in darkness. The opposite of nighttime is daytime. Earth's rotation causes the appearance of ...

" are referred to in the

Federal Aviation Regulations The Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) are rules prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) governing all aviation activities in the United States. The FARs comprise Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). A wide var ...

in the US. These include the periods from #

sunset Sunset (or sundown) is the disappearance of the Sun at the end of the Sun path, below the horizon of the Earth (or any other astronomical object in the Solar System) due to its Earth's rotation, rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth, it ...

sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

- used for nav lights, # the end of evening civil

twilight Twilight is daylight illumination produced by diffuse sky radiation when the Sun is below the horizon as sunlight from the upper atmosphere is scattered in a way that illuminates both the Earth's lower atmosphere and also the Earth's surf ...

to the beginning of morning civil twilight (this is the "standard definition of night", given in FAR Section 1.1) - used for logging night flight, # one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise - used for night currency and carrying passengers. These uses of night are listed in order of increasing

restrictiveness In semantics, a modifier is said to be restrictive (or ''defining'') if it restricts the reference of its head. For example, in "the red car is fancier than the blue one", ''red'' and ''blue'' are restrictive, because they restrict which cars ''c ...

. The end of evening civil twilight generally occurs less than one hour after sunset
AirNav
is a good source for sunset and sunrise and evening civil twilight and morning civil twilight.

Pilot currency

Pilots An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they are ...

are required to maintain night currency every 90 days to carry passengers at night. Specifically, 61.57(b) states that "...no person may act as pilot in command of an

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

carrying

passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

s during the period beginning 1 hour after sunset and ending 1 hour before sunrise, unless within the preceding 90 days that person has made at least three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop during the period beginning 1 hour after sunset and ending 1 hour before sunrise, and— # That person acted as sole manipulator of the flight controls; and # The required takeoffs and landings were performed in an aircraft of the same category, class, and type (if a type rating is required)."

Recency and Equipment Requirements

* To log night hours, one uses the standard definition of night, given in FAR Section 1.1. * Takeoffs and landings required to fulfill the recency requirements of FAR 61.57 must be conducted between one hour after sunset, and one hour before sunrise. * Restrictions on carrying passengers also refers to the period from one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise. * The "night" restriction on Special VFR clearances, namely that the pilot and aircraft are rated and equipped for IFR, applies from sunset to sunrise, see AIM 4-4-6(g). * Position lights are required from sunset to sunrise (see FAR 91.209 and AIM 4–3–23). * Additional equipment required for VFR flight during the standard definition of night is given in FAR 91.205c, and summarized by the FLAPS

mnemonic A mnemonic device ( ), memory trick or memory device is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval in the human memory, often by associating the information with something that is easier to remember. It makes use of e ...

: **Fuses ** Landing light (if for hire) ** Anti-collision lights (beacon, strobe) ** Position lights ** Source of electricity

References

External links

Sunrise/Sunset Tables

Sun Cult Firefox Add-on

Night Times and Definitions Look-up
{{Authority control Aviation in the United States Aviation law Night flying