Night rating · Netherlands
Your night rating, planned over two nights.
EASA night rating training from Rotterdam and other Dutch airfields with night operations. Fly your own aircraft, or one of six available types.
The same aircraft, a different airfield.
At night the runway you know by heart becomes a pattern of lights, the horizon can disappear over the water, and a field that would be an obvious landing option by day is simply dark. The rating teaches the flying, but mostly it teaches how to plan for those differences.
The training is compressed into two evenings, with the theory done beforehand so the time in the dark is spent flying. The extra privilege is practical: a trip that runs late no longer has to end short of home.
Part-FCL · FCL.810
What the rating requires.
The regulatory minimums for an aeroplane night rating. We confirm the current text, and anything specific to your licence, at intake.
- Theoretical knowledge instruction
- 5 h
- Flight time at night
- 5 h
- Of which dual instruction
- 3 h
- Dual cross-country navigation, incl. one flight of at least 50 km (27 NM)
- 1 h
- Solo take-offs and solo full-stop landings
- 5 + 5
The plan
Two nights, with a reserve.
Circuits and the airfield at night
- Theory completed beforehand, so the evening is for flying
- Briefing on night illusions, lighting, and what changes in an emergency
- Dual circuits: approaches to a lit runway, go-arounds, a lighting failure
- Solo take-offs and full-stop landings once you are ready
Navigation away from the lights
- Dual cross-country of at least 50 km, planned for the night environment
- Diversion and lost-procedure practice where the ground gives little back
- Remaining dual time and the solo landings still to do
- Debrief, training record and the paperwork for your licensing authority
Fly what you know, or what suits the course.
Training in your own aircraft means the rating ends up on the panel you will actually use at night. If yours is not equipped for night VFR, or you would rather not, one of these is available.
- SR20
- SR22
- DA40
- DR400
- PA-28
- P2010
- Your own
Before you book.
For a current pilot with the theory done beforehand, yes: the flight minimum is five hours, and two well-planned evenings cover it. We still pencil in a reserve night, because night weather in the Netherlands is not something to argue with.
October to March. Night starts early enough that both evenings finish at a reasonable hour. In midsummer, official night in the Netherlands starts late and is short, which makes two nights hard to fit in.
Yes, if it is equipped for night VFR (instrument and cockpit lighting, position and anti-collision lights, a landing light) and your insurance covers instruction. We check both at intake rather than discovering them on the apron.
A LAPL(A) or PPL(A) with a valid medical, and recent daytime currency. If you have not flown for a while, a short day refresher first makes the night flying far more productive.
After the course, the training organisation signs your completion and you apply to your licensing authority (the ILT for a Dutch licence) to have the night rating endorsed. We help with the paperwork.
Plan your two nights.
Tell us your licence, your recent flying and which aircraft you would like to use. We come back with dates that suit the season and the weather.
- Licence type and when you last flew
- Your aircraft, or the type you prefer
- Evenings that work for you