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Rules for night flying.

PostPosted:Mon Dec 03, 2018 9:14 pm
by WGN
Hello,

This is probably a silly question caused by me misreading stuff but I'm a little bit confused with the rules of flying at night. I'm currently studying from 2 sources. One is the Pooleys Air Pilots Manual 2 Air Law & Meterology (14th edtion published Sept.2017) and the other is the Skyway Code (Version 1.1, Sept 2017).

In the pooleys book at the end of chapter 7 - Visual Flight Rules (page 122) they have test questions, with question 3 being;

'Except when taking off or landing, what is the minimum level at which a night VFR flight can operate?'

The correct answer is given as;

'(c) At least 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within 8km of the aircraft.'

However, when reading the Skyway Code on the digital pdf page 61 deals with VFR at night and states;

'You must fly at a level not less than 1000 ft above the highest obstacle within 5 NM of the aircraft’s position, except that under the UK permission, when at or below 3000 ft AMSL, you may fly:
>In sight of the surface;
>At a height of not less than 500 ft above the ground or water, or 500 ft above the highest obstacle within a radius of 500 ft from the aircraft; and
>At a height not less than 1,000 ft above the highest obstacle within a radius of 600 m from the aircraft when over the congested areas of cities, towns or settlements or over an open-air assembly of persons.'


So I guess the question is am I missing something? Dr Google says 5nm = 9.26km, so which is it 5nm or 8km?

Thanks

Edit - I'd just like to add I've also looked up ENR 1.2 and looked at 1.7 where it has VFR at night. Still faily confused.

Re: Rules for night flying.

PostPosted:Tue Dec 04, 2018 6:08 pm
by bookworm
Not a silly question at all, though it is a point of detail that is unlikely to be relevant in practice.

The Skyway Code is incorrect. The author (who probably owes you a Guinness) has used the criterion (for both IFR and night VFR) that used to apply in the UK for IFR flight. That was 1000 ft above the highest obstacle within 5 NM.

But Part-SERA uses 8 km in all those contexts.

SERA.5005(c)
(5) except when necessary for take-off or landing, or except when specifically authorised by the competent authority, a VFR flight at night shall be flown at a level which is not below the minimum flight altitude established by the State whose territory is overflown, or, where no such minimum flight altitude has been established:

(ii) elsewhere than as specified in i), at a level which is at least 300 m (1 000 ft) above the highest obstacle located within 8 km of the estimated position of the aircraft.

SERA.6015
(b) Minimum levels
Except when necessary for take-off or landing, or except when specifically authorised by the competent authority, an IFR flight shall be flown at a level which is not below the minimum flight altitude established by the State whose territory is overflown, or, where no such minimum flight altitude has been established:

(2) elsewhere than as specified in (1), at a level which is at least 300 m (1 000 ft) above the highest obstacle located within 8 km of the estimated position of the aircraft.


The UK AIP gets this right.

However, the CAA has "specifically authorised" in ORS1125 VFR flight at night below the levels specified in SERA.5005(c)(5) subject to conditions that, in effect, simply align the night VFR rules for minimum level with day VFR. So the "1000 ft above the highest obstacle located within 8 km" does not apply in practice.

Which just leaves the question of whether you would like to tell the CAA that the Skyway code is wrong, or you'd prefer me to… :D

Re: Rules for night flying.

PostPosted:Tue Dec 04, 2018 9:03 pm
by WGN
Haha,

thanks for the reply. After reading your comment I think one of the things that led me to confusion was I was reading the rules as though they were only written for the UK, not as SERA with UK's own permissions added on. Once I got that sorted in my head the night flying rules are alot easier to follow.

Re: Rules for night flying.

PostPosted:Wed Dec 05, 2018 9:56 am
by bookworm
WGN wrote:Haha,


I took "Haha" as "you tell them", so I have let the GA team know.