It wasn’t pre EASA. I am pretty sure you need a night rating before you can do the IR practical.
It may have changed in the last few years but it would be at most the last 5 years.
chflyer wrote:
Is that a French national implementation? In Switzerland, if one doesn’t have a VFR night rating when applying for an IR, then the IR is issued as “day only”.
It may be a pre-EASA implementation. Pre-EASA Sweden also required a night rating as a prerequisite for the IR. (It was possible to apply for an exemption if you couldn’t get a night rating because of colour blindness.)
Airborne_Again wrote:
UK license and operational regulations both apply
The UK Part-NCO rules will only apply to a non–UK-registered aircraft when the aircraft operator is resident or established in the United Kingdom.
gallois wrote:
When I did the IR one had to already have a night rating. It also didn’t just come with the CBIR.
Is that a French national implementation? In Switzerland, if one doesn’t have a VFR night rating when applying for an IR, then the IR is issued as “day only”.
gallois wrote:
One would need an FAA night rating to fly VFR at night.
There is no FAA night rating. Night flying privileges are included in the basic PPL certificate.
It doesn’t matter whether the landings are VFR or IFR. EASA FCL.060 just states you need to have carried out 1 landing (and approach and take-off) at night (real or FFS) in the past 90 days or to hold an IR before carrying passengers as PIC at night. Hence my original question about whether BIR qualifies. Reading the answers I think the answer is unsettled-you’d have to take it to court to figure out.
Reading the relevant regulations again, I’ve also come to realise the requirement is for all night operations, not just landings (so early morning takeoff into daylight with pax also needs night currency). Lively discussion – reminds me of this – we’re all at risk 
gallois wrote:
Do I need to do a night VFR flight to become current to take that passenger.
That depends on when you did your last night IFR landing. If less then 90 days ago, then no, otherwise yes. The rule in question (FCL.060) does not distinguish between VFR and IFR flights.
Of course, if you have not logged the night IFR landings as night landings, then you could have a practical problem in deciding whether or not you need a night landing to become current for passengers. (Or proving that you are current if you get ramp checked.) OTOH, the AMC to FCL.050 says that you should log day or night for every landing.
Actually, FCL.060 says that you must have done not only a landing in darkness, but also a take-off and an approach. However, there is no requirement to log night take-offs…
That’s not quite want I meant as a grey area.
Let’s say I did several night IFR flights into and out of LFBH in October.
During October my IR lapsed because I decided not to revalidate
My night VFR rating is not lapsed, however I haven’t made a night VFR flight in several years. Now say I want to do a night flight VFR with a passenger. Do I need to do a night VFR flight to become current to take that passenger.
There is no specific rule which seems to cover this. Night VFR and IFR flight plans are different and my log book contains hours recorded as IFR even when carried out at night.
The other element is that currency of VFR night for the carriage of passengers must be in the same class of aircraft as the flight one intends to make. That might well be an SEP whereas nearly all my recent IFR at night experience has been MEP.
gallois wrote:
Since I have had an IR I have made no night VFR landing and take offs. All my landings and take offs at night have been IFR with passengers or alone. So I never bother to do a separate night VFR landing and take off in order to carry passengers.
The grey is whether or not I could carry passenges on a VFR flight at night even having done so under IFR. I have not seen any regulation regarding this.
This is not grey at all. The answer is yes. Simply by having an IR you are exempted from the requirement of having made a night landing in the last 90 days. There is no mention of any kind of IR currency – day or night.
boscomantico wrote:
Merely having an IR does not necessarily mean you have any exposure to poor visibility landings.
No, but you are still supposed to handle it. There are no separate currency requirements for low visibility instrument approaches.
