Night Currency and the Passenger Who Wasn't on the Manifest
You hold a PPL(A) with a night rating. Your logbook shows: 2 night take-offs and landings in the last 90 days, but only 1 hour of night flight time in total in the last 90 days. It is 22:40 local, civil twilight ended at 19:10. You are asked to fly two colleagues from a licensed aerodrome to a nearby unlicensed grass strip, 25 minutes away, returning the same night. The aircraft's POH is in the cockpit; the strip has no lighting and no published approach. Your passenger briefing has been given, but one colleague is not on the load sheet you prepared because he arrived after you calculated W&B. He weighs 82 kg. The aircraft's maximum take-off mass leaves 90 kg of margin.
1. Can you legally and safely depart on this flight? Address night currency, aerodrome suitability, and the load sheet discrepancy.
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Night currency: The recency rule requires 3 take-offs and landings at night in the preceding 90 days (with the take-off and landing being at least one full circuit apart) to carry passengers at night. You have only 2 in 90 days, so you are not current to carry passengers at night. The flight cannot legally depart with passengers until a third night take-off and landing is completed - and that must be flown solo or with a qualified pilot, not the colleagues.
Aerodrome suitability: A licensed aerodrome is fine for departure, but the destination is unlicensed, unlit, and has no published approach. At 22:40, well after civil twilight, this is a night landing at an unlit strip. Even if currency were satisfied, this is a high-risk operation requiring specific competence and planning; a PPL night rating does not automatically authorise you to operate into unlit strips unless you are satisfied it is safe and permitted.
Load sheet: The 82 kg passenger is not on the load sheet. The 90 kg margin would be exceeded (82 kg plus any baggage) and, more importantly, the W&B calculation is invalid. The flight must not depart until a corrected load sheet is prepared and the CG is confirmed within limits.
Conclusion: No. You are not night-current, the destination is unsuitable for a night landing without further qualification, and the load sheet is wrong.
2. What would you need to do to make this flight legal, and what would you tell the passengers?
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- Currency: Complete a third night take-off and landing (full circuit) with a suitably qualified person or solo before carrying the passengers. This may mean delaying the flight to another day or completing a local circuit first.
- Aerodrome: Verify the strip is suitable and that you are competent to operate there at night. If it is unlit and has no approach, consider a daytime flight or an alternative lit aerodrome.
- Load sheet: Recalculate W&B with the 82 kg passenger included, confirm MTOM and CG limits, and update the load sheet before departure.
- Passengers: Explain that the flight is delayed for safety and regulatory reasons - they should not be boarded until the corrected paperwork and currency are in place.