Hi all,

There's a bit of a debate going around at the moment where I am finishing my training as to what the requirements are for the holder of an Instrument Rating to fly at Night under the VFR.

Some are saying that in order to do so you must have met the requirements for the issuance of a Night VFR Rating.

CASR 61.855 says you can fly a) Under the IFR, b) At night under the VFR.

61.865 begins to elaborate on this saying "The holder of an instrument rating is authorised to pilot an aircraft mentioned in column 2 of an item in Part 1 of table 61.890 under the IFR, or at night under the VFR, only if the holder also holds the endorsement mentioned in column 1 of the item."

In this table, "Multi-engine aeroplane instrument ENDORSEMENT" allows flight at night under the VFR provided the minimum requirements are met from column 3, however what then become are recency requirements for flight at night under the VFR whilst holding an Instrument Rating?

It's all very confusing..

Thanks, Michael.

The issue here is the difference between the term "rating" and "endorsement". CASR 61.890 is talking about an endorsement i.e. single or twin engine aircraft. You can't be issued an instrument rating unless you have an endorsement on either a single or twin engine aircraft and you must hold a single engine endorsement before you can hold a twin endorsement.

If you hold an instrument rating, you would have also met the endorsement requirements. So provided you hold a current instrument rating, you can fly VFR at night. But if your instrument rating is for single engine aircraft only, you cannot fly a twin at night under the VFR even if you do have a twin endorsement.

Remember also, that you must still meet the night VFR recency requirements of no passengers unless you have done 3 take-offs and landings in the last 90 days (CASR 61.395 (2)).