As a private pilot, you can generally fly at any hour of day or night. If you want to bring along a passenger at night, however, there are night currency requirements you must meet. As PIC, you must have completed three takeoffs and landings to a full stop at night within the preceding 90 days. You must complete the currency requirements in the same category and class of aircraft in which you intend to tote your passengers.
So when does night begin and end? According to the federal aviation regulations, night begins at the end of evening civil twilight and concludes at the beginning of morning civil twilight. That's the FAA's definition of night for airmen; for aircraft, night is the period from sunset to sunrise. Airplanes can't be operated at night - that is, from sunset to sunrise - unless they are equipped with functioning position lights. Many flight schools and fixed-based operators don't permit student pilots to fly solo after sunset, so you'll need to know when the airplane is expected to be on the ground.
Evening civil twilight and sunset aren't exactly the same. According to the U.S. Naval Observatory, civil twilight ends in the evening when the center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon, whereas sunset is when the upper edge of the disk of the sun is on the horizon, considered unobstructed relative to the location of interest.
Where can you find out when sunset and civil twilight are for your area? Look for sunset times on The Weather Channel, your local paper, and such Internet sites as Wunderground.com and Weather.com. For civil twilight, check The Air Almanac. The U.S. Naval Observatory has a conversion calculator at its Web site ( http://aa.usno.navy.mil ). Another calculator can be found at www.mindspring.com/~cavu/sunset.html .
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