In Greece the CAA published official sunrise/sunset times for every airport and day/night follows the 30 minute rule. Note that the sr/ss times are different for each airport at different longitudes. Previously there was a universal sr/ss time corresponding to Athens area (approximately in the "middle" of the country. But the real sr/ss can differ by as much as 30 minutes in Greece (e.g. LGKR - Kerkira which is West and LGRP - Rhodes or LGKJ - Kastellorizo which is east), so if you were flying over Rhodes one minute before sunset it was really dark, as opposed to Kerkira. So they made specific times for each airport.
So presumably under the SERA there will be wholesale changes for everyone....I imagine there will be mass confusion for a while...
My son is studying air law for his PPL just now but all the study material (and hopefully the exam) is based on the current UK air law...so he won't be any better prepared
There is no Night VFR in the Netherlands other than for training purposes in getting your CPL/IR.
And in Sweden the definition is:
A condition which is considered to prevail when between sunset and sunrise a prominent unlighted object due to reduced daylight cannot be clearly observed from a distance of more than 8 km.
No room for interpretation :)
In France night is defined by civil sunrise/sunset, corresponding to the center of the sun being 6° below the horizon. Here it corresponds approximately to half an hour before/after sunrise/sunset. of course this difference depends on your latitude and the season. In summer there are places (northern latitude) where the sun sets and however nevers gets 6° below horizon, meaning that there is no civil sunset. If you're into astronomy, the astonomical night is defined by the sun being 18° below the horizon. As South as Paris there is no astronomical night in the begining of summer...
If I want to depart from a VFR only airfield in the Netherlands to join IFR I would have to depart during this period...
Is there no Night VFR in the Netherlands?
Night VFR is allowed in LV, the only thing I have to do is to file a flight plan.
There's nothing in AIP, but I found website with systematized legislation of the Republic of Latvia and it contains translation of ICAO document with night definition (the same as above - between twilights). Is this what I can trust?
As for The Netherlands the UDP (universal daylight period) is defined in the AIP and is basically from 15 minutes before sunrise to 15 minutes after sunset. If I want to depart from a VFR only airfield in the Netherlands to join IFR I would have to depart during this period as in the Dutch AIP they have included a table with all the airports/airfields and what kind of operations are allowed there. The VFR only airfield would then not allow IFR operations and thus you cannot depart IFR from the field.
For currency (before I had my instrument rating) I remember the 1 takeoff and 1 landing at night as part of the 3 takeoffs and landings. I would fly with my passengers into Antwerp (EBAW) and let wait until it was dark, then talk to the tower that I would like to takeoff and then immediately land on the same runway, then I would taxi back to the apron to pickup my passengers while being current. Now that I have the instrument rating, the night currency is automatically valid with my instrument rating. I only need to have 3 takeoffs and landings in the previous months, which is easy to do.
At the time I was flying night VFR, I often landed after daytime into a remote airfield/airport. The problem with remaining current was the night takeoff.
One other issue to notice is that night VFR rules differ from country to country. E.g. in France you cannot fly Night VFR if there is a forecast of rain, even light rain along your route or at your destination.
I think it's very naughty to just cancel somebody's flight plan.
It happened to me just once: on a flight from Granada to Zaragoza (Spain), with the latter being PPR, I got the office at Granada to telephone Zaragoza for the PPR, which they did right in front of me (in Spanish of course), but when we got loaded up and were ready to start up, we were told that Zaragoza said we did not have permission (!!!) and that they (Zaragoza) cancelled our (Eurocontrol IFR) flight plan. Amazing arrogance... So we flew elsewhere.
Unfortunately anybody anywhere in the world can transmit a Cancel message onto the AFTN, for any aircraft anywhere.
The ICAO definition does not matter, it is still country specific. So assuming your flight was in Latvia, you would have to look at the country regs.
This is the key. Others have correctly quoted ICAO definition of night, but each country makes its own choice as to what is appropriate there.
Just because it's not in the AIP doesn't mean that it doesn't exit. It will be in national regulations somewhere.....
Could you not have refilled?
Is night VFR allowed in Latvia?
