How do you calculate night time flying?

Here's what they have to say: 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. If you fall in that time period, you can log night flight time, and your plane needs to be night VFR equipped.



In 2026, pilots must navigate three distinct "night" definitions under FAA and international regulations. For the purpose of logging "night flight time," the clock starts at the "end of evening civil twilight" and ends at the "beginning of morning civil twilight" (typically 20–35 minutes after sunset). To meet "night currency" requirements to carry passengers, a pilot must perform three takeoffs and three full-stop landings during the period from one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise. Finally, for aircraft equipment and lighting, "night" is defined simply as the period between sunset and sunrise. Pilots typically use electronic flight bags (EFBs) like ForeFlight to automatically calculate these exact moments based on their GPS coordinates, as the specific time of "civil twilight" shifts daily. Understanding these nuances is critical for legal compliance and safety, as human night vision and depth perception are significantly degraded during these specific windows.

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Night in the UK is from 30 minutes after sunset to 30 minutes before sunrise, but is defined nationally in each ICAO country. If you have a LAPL licence you must first have completed the basic instrument flight training required within the PPL(A) syllabus that was not in your licence.

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You will, however, have to perform some mental math or use a calculator when making logbook entries using this format; Each decimal hour (0.1) is equal to 6 minutes, which means your flight minutes will have to be divided by 6 to obtain decimal hours (e.g., a flight of one and a half hours (1:30) = 1. [30/6] = 1.5).

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Night flight restrictions There are two time periods: 23:00 - 07:00 and 23:30 - 06:00 both with restrictions on certain types of aircraft; The more restrictive period (23:30 - 06:00) is known as the Night Quota Period (NQP) and has limits on the number of movements which are set by the DfT.

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While it all comes down to your preferences, daytime flying has the upper hand when it comes to visibility. Because of the sunlight, any possible obstructions, such as rocks or mountains, are far easier to spot, making the likelihood of accidents much less and daytime flying the safer option by far.

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An overnight flight means you land in the morning, getting a full day to explore. A second benefit is that it helps save on costs. By spending the night on the plane, you are covering transportation and accommodation fees all in one.

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