Night

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.

14 CFR 61.57 - Recent flight experience: Pilot in command.

61.57(b)

Night takeoff and landing experience.(1) Except as provided in paragraph (e) of this section, no person may act as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying passengers 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—
(i) That person acted as sole manipulator of the flight controls; and
(ii) The required takeoffs and landings were performed in an aircraft of the same category, class, and type (if a type rating is required).

 14 CFR 61.315 - What are the privileges and limits of my sport pilot certificate?

(c) You may not act as pilot in command of a light-sport aircraft:

(1) That is carrying a passenger or property for compensation or hire.
(2) For compensation or hire.
(3) In furtherance of a business.
(4) While carrying more than one passenger.
(5) At night

An awesome power. Five clicks on the radio button turns a black hole of darkness into a runway lit up like a Christmas tree. The world stays beautiful at night, but it also becomes a bit more dangerous to those of us use to the light. Obstacles remain unseen. A deer on the runway, the tree that grew too tall on the approach corridor, minor mechanical failures all become more hazardous.

"Night flight is so completely different from day that it requires careful introduction. Any pilot deficiencies become magnified at night. The night horizon is less visible and more indistinct. Night flight is semi-IFR with considerable reliance on the instruments. Clouds and terrain are from difficult to impossible to see.  There can be a gradual loss of visual clues when flying into darker terrain. This leads to disorientation and loss of control." PilotFriend

Video Notes: This video really stressed the Camtasia software. I wanted to show the effect of decreasing sunlight. Running the clips simultaneously seemed to be very hard on the rendering engine. I had many crashes before this video was finally successfully rendered.

Night


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