The Differences Between Night and Day

Every pilot has at some point been puzzled by the FAA’s convoluted definition of day and night flying and what you can log as day or night in your log book. I come here to give you my understanding of the rules based on attending classes held by FAA lawyers on the FARs.

To start lets list the rules and then go through them. Night is defined as the time between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight, as published in the American Air Almanac, converted to local time (FAR Part 1). 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 (FAR 61.57 b1).

These are two very different definitions of night. One states that it is between civil twilights and other suggests it is an hour after sunset. So first I will define civil twilight, it is the time when the sun is less than 6 degrees below the horizon, this is the time that most consider sunset, and vice-versa for morning civil twilight and sunrise. So night is defined as sunset to sunrise, but in order to be current for flight one hour after sunset till one hour before sunrise you must have meet the proper requirements.

OK now that everyone is completely confused I will attempt to explain. You can log night hours anytime after sunset till sunrise. You SHOULD only log night landings if they occur from one hour after sunset till one hour till sunrise. This is because only those landings during that time are legal for currency, if you did not you would need a second column for those landings you could use for currency.

An example: It is possible to log all of your hours at night but not get a single night landing. But you need three one hour after sunset till one hour before sunrise in order to carry passengers.

I hope this post has helped you understand the differences and made you feel more confident when filling out your logbook.