The regulation in Sweden is similar to that in Finland, NVFR allowed. In the southern tip we have a few airports that are open in the evenings as well as a few uncontrolled airports that have approved lighting.
The main issue is the fog that can really can ruin the day (night) .. at least where I’m based.
dublinpilot 22-Feb-14 10:24 #08
So it looks like France and Germany are the places to go for a little night flying ;)
which is what I do. Usually overnighting at Munster Osnabruck
Night VFR is easier in Canada.
With suitable weather, I get in the plane, and fly. My home runway lights go on and off with a switch by the back door. If I’m flying home from work after dark, a text message to my wive or daughter will get them turned on.
Other uncontrolled airports offer ARCAL, so you can click the mic five times, and the lights come on (a radio is required for night flying). Most airports offer lit runways so controlled.
Two Toronto area airports are not open after 11PM for noise. When they were opened in the 1930’s no one cared about the noise, but since then, someone built a home or two nearby, and found that the occasional plane woke them up! If an emergency, you can go in though.
The major hazard is the black hole effect (JFK junior learned too late), Even though severe clear at night, there might just be nothing lit to see ahead, and you may as well be IFR, so you’d better handle the plane that way!
Quite useful, except for this winter where visibility has constantly been just below night VFR requirements (8km). Since the beginning of the year I have cancelled a dousin night-VFR flights and have flown none.
We also need no cloud below 1500 ft (1000 if in the circuit). In return for the rather stringent minima there is no night-specific altitude restrictions and no airspace restrictions. VHF, flightplan and transponder is mandatory above 3000 ft – not a problem. When following the Öresund bridge (rather scenic) from Sweden to Copenhagen I usually ask to cross Kastrup, the main airport in Denmark, to which the response a couple times has been “cleared to cross overhead runway 30, not below 100 ft” :-)
The number of airports and airfields open to night flight is around 30, which is ok for this small country. At least 5 of them are grass strips.
SERA is to come into force this December, and that will ease night visibility requirements to 5 km, but it will also introduce (modifiable) altitude restrictions similar to en-route IFR. That would make night VFR next to unusable especially in busy airspaces near airports, as it would push us straight up into the TMAs.
I have asked our national authority (“CAA”) to modify that and allow for lower altitudes since there has not been observed any low-altitude night problems so far, and I have recieved an encouraging response.
Not below 100ft? Often for a Schiphol crossing I have had not above 500ft.
Hi
As part of the implementation of SERA I´m working on the response to the Norwegian CAA from the Norwegian ATCO guild on the national implementation and adaptation. With some national allowance for aerobatics and other special stuff, it´s mostly to be implemented “as is” from EU.
One point that got me wondering was the VFR night minimum altitudes which is going to be much more restrictive for us over here as pilots.
SERA.5005 says:
(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:
(i) over high terrain or in mountainous areas, at a level which is at least 600 m (2 000 ft) above the highest obstacle located within 8 km of the estimated position of the aircraft;
(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.
This is basically min IFR alt….
The N-CAA has not defined any special minimum flight altitude for VFR night, and we are looking at using point (i) and (ii). Today we ca fly VFR night, but there are no requirements for minimum altitude apart for the normal 1000/500ft VFR rules.
Does anyone know of any countries that allow VFR night now pre-SERA that use such draconian min altitudes? Given that we have a lot of “spiky” terrain, it makes VFR night a bit of a struggle with the new rules.
Hei Anders. Even down here in flat Denmark those minimum altitudes would spoil the fun – or at least make night VFR flying rather impractical at controlled airports with TMA’s above the CTR’s. At present minimum altitudes at night are the same as in daylight, and that has worked fine for many years now.
For that reason I asked AOPA Denmark last year to suggest strongly to the Transport Authority that it utilize the SERA.5005 option to establish a State minimum altitude lower than that required for IFR. I know the suggestion was brought forward but not whether it will be sustained. I shall probably find out more about that in the months to come, and I am meeting the chairman of Danish AOPA next week. If you would like to know how that will proceed, you are very welcome to PM me (Norwegian is fine!). Denmark will implement SERA this December – how about Norway?
Ironically, the UK always called it IFR at night, but gave a useful exception (d, below) to the minimum height rule.
IFR Minimum height
33 (1)
Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), an aircraft shall not fly at a height of less than 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a distance of 5 nautical miles of the aircraft unless:
(a) it is necessary for the aircraft to do so in order to take off or land;
(b) the aircraft flies on a route notified for the purposes of this rule;
(c) the aircraft has been otherwise authorised by the competent authority in relation to the area over which the aircraft is flying; or
(d) the aircraft flies at an altitude not exceeding 3,000 feet above mean sea level and remains clear of cloud and with the surface in sight and in a flight visibility of at least 800 metres.
800m is 2560 feet, so how could you be at 3000ft, 800m vis, and be in sight of the surface?
It sounds like somebody dropped this in to see who is awake i.e. how long before it appears on the forums 
In Czech Republic the altitude requirement for NVFR is 2000 ft AGL en route, 1300 ft AGL in the ATZ and 1000 ft AAL in the circuit. No mention of obstacles. Medevac and rescue flights enjoy an exception from these limits.
