Night Flight to Kemble

New Night lights installed at Kemble Kemble (rebranded as Cotswold Airport – checkout their new website) has installed AGL3 night lights which were open for the first evening today. Thursday night opening until 8pm should be a regular feature, with the AV8 restaurant also planned to be open too. Check both are open before you fly in though – PPR is mandatory and the airport won’t remain open if there’s

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Blackpool by day and night

Gloucester to Blackpool daytrip in the TB20, returning after dusk The chance for a last flight of the year arose when a combination of weather window, aircraft/my availability and passengers all lined up. After a few days of cogitating about where, when and who with, it was decided on a day trip to Blackpool with my daughter and a couple of her friends. We’d fly the TB20 from Gloucester which

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Regaining night currency with a short flight to Oxford

The 90 day passenger rule Pilot regulations require that pilots who carry passengers at night must have made one take-off and landing at night within the previous 90 days. Once out of currency, this must either be done with an instructor or solo. Now that I’m based at an airport with lights, with the winter nights drawing in and the clocks going back, it was time to regain my night

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Solo night flight from Lyneham

After my successful familiarisation night flight the previous week, I thought the next step to consolidate this would be to take a short solo local flight one evening after work. With sunset around 8pm local, official night starts at 8:30. I could get to the airfield by 7:30, so planned to fly from 8 till 9. This would be similar to a late return from a landaway, and mean I

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Night flying familiarisation from Lyneham

  I had completed my Night Qualification in January at Gloucester, but not used it since then. It is possible to fly from Lyneham after sunset, but first you need to be checked out by an instructor. Familiarisation with the local procedures and visual references is extremely useful for any night destination, and it also helped remind me of the differences. It’s also required to have approval for each trip

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Night Qualification

One of the next steps a private pilot can take is to learn to fly at night. This can extend your range by being able to depart a daytime only field close to dusk, then fly in the early evening back to base (assuming it is open and has lights). This is not a rating which needs to be revalidated and there is no test to pass. A course of

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