G'day all, over the past 2 weeks I have been working on attaining my Night VFR rating. This has been an exciting task to accomplish, and many new skills & more knowledge was acquired along the way.
For those not from Australia, if we desire to fly before first or after last light, it is required of us to have a night vfr or an ifr rating. As taken from the Civil Aviation Advisory Publication:
"Australia is one of the few countries to require a separate pilot qualification to fly at night under VFR, but the additional complexity and risk of night flying, as demonstrated by the accident record both in Australia and overseas, provides ample
reason for pilots to undertake additional training for a night flying qualification".
The requirements to be met for the CASA are (other than the Aeronautical Knowledge component) are (as taken from the CAAP):
5.3 Aeronautical experience
5.3.1 The aeronautical experience requirements for the issue of
a NVFR Rating are specified in CAO 40.2.2, Appendix 1. In
summary, the requirements for the aeroplane or helicopter grade
of NVFR Rating are:
o Sufficient instrument flight time to achieve the specified
standard;
o At least 10 hours flight time at night;
o Including at least five hours in aeroplanes or helicopters
as appropriate to the rating;
12 CAAP 5.13-2(0): NVFR Rating
December 2006
o Including at least two hours night circuits;
o Including at least one hour night circuits in aeroplanes or
helicopters as appropriate to the rating;
o Five hours of dual navigation training at night;
o Including one cross country flight of at least three hours
duration covering at least 100 miles;
o Including one landing at an aerodrome other than the
departure aerodrome and which is not in an area that has
sufficient ground light to provide a discernible horizon.
So, I completed my Navaid traiing (as previously posted), then onto night circuits. The comment I made to my wife after getting back from flying my first night circuits was, "I thought flying in the day time was fun... flying at night is awesome!". Two nights later I completed my 2nd session of night circuits, which met the requirement of 2hrs solo night circuits & tallied up about 4.5hrs total night circuits.
Next was the night navs... the first was from Toowoomba - Kingaroy - Chinchilla. After flying circuits at Kingaroy & Chinchilla I had been required to plan to fly to Moonie & then back to Toowoomba. When around the town of Tara, the instructor diverted me to Oakey on the VOR & then we flew back into Toowoomba. There was something interesting that happened on the radio too, a military F111 made a Pan call to ATS, you can listen to the audio by clicking
HEREThe second nav took me from Toowoomba - Goondiwindi then I'd planned a track to Tara then Toowoomba, however once again the instructor diverted me, this time at Moonie, back to Toowoomba.
Next was the test. I did my I/F test first which involved procedures such as climbing & decending turns, partial panel, unusual attitude recovery under partial panel, homing & intercepting aswell as plotting position of radio nav aids.
That evening I then flew from Toowoomba - Warwick, where I conducted my night circuits, then to Millmerran - Dalby... but you guested it, the ATO diverted me to Toowoomba enroute to Dalby.
As we joined mid-field crosswind the ATO said that there was no issues with the flight & he would be 'putting the sticker' in my Logbook!
So there you have it, I am now night rated. I can't wait to organise & plan a night flight over the city of Brisbane. That will be pretty.
Here's a picture of the 172 just before my first nav...
