Night Currency Windows
A concise explanation of sunset, civil twilight, and the one-hour night passenger currency window pilots actually need to plan around.
Night terminology creates confusion because several valid time windows exist at once. A pilot may be legal for one purpose and outside the relevant window for another. The practical fix is to stop using the word night as if it means only one thing.
Three windows matter most
For ordinary training and planning, the key windows are:
- Sunset to sunrise for position light requirements
- End of evening civil twilight to beginning of morning civil twilight for loggable night
- One hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise for passenger-carrying night currency under 61.57(b)
Those windows overlap, but they are not interchangeable.
Why pilots get tripped up
The usual mistake is assuming that sunset means night currency begins immediately. It does not. Another common mistake is logging or briefing night without saying which FAA definition is being used.
Better briefing language
Instead of saying night starts at 2017, say:
- Sunset: 2017
- Civil dusk: 2050
- Night currency begins: 2117
That removes interpretation and makes the briefing useful to another pilot.
Practical takeaway
Use the exact boundary that matches the task. If the goal is passenger-carrying night currency, show the one-hour rule directly. If the goal is loggable night, show civil twilight. Precision matters more than shorthand.