Night in your logbook isn't sunset to sunrise. It starts when evening civil twilight ends and stops when morning civil twilight begins, and on most flights only part of the time falls in between.
What counts as night
- EASA. Night is the period between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight. Civil twilight ends in the evening, and begins in the morning, when the centre of the sun is 6° below the horizon.
- FAA. 14 CFR 1.1 defines night the same way: from the end of evening civil twilight to the beginning of morning civil twilight. That is the night time you log.
Dusk and dawn, while the sun is between 0° and 6° below the horizon, still count as day.
Flights that cross twilight
What matters is where the aircraft is when the sun passes 6° below the horizon, not only the times at departure and arrival. Flying west in the evening keeps you in twilight longer; flying east brings night sooner.
An example: Stockholm-Bromma to Gothenburg-Landvetter on 28 October 2026, off blocks 15:35 UTC and on blocks 16:40 UTC. The first 24 minutes are dusk and count as day. The last 41 minutes are night. The take-off is a day take-off; the landing is a night landing.
Take-offs and landings
- EASA. A take-off or landing at night is one made between the end of evening and the beginning of morning civil twilight.
- FAA, carrying passengers at night. 14 CFR 61.57(b) asks for three take-offs and three landings to a full stop within the preceding 90 days, made between 1 hour after sunset and 1 hour before sunrise. That window is narrower than night for logging.
How Blades works it out
- Blades follows the great-circle route over your block times and checks the sun all along the way. The time with the sun more than 6° below the horizon counts as night.
- A bar under the route shows day, dusk and night along the flight, and the total shows how much of it was night.
- Take-offs and landings are marked day or night by the sun at each airport at that moment, using civil twilight. For FAA night currency, check that your night landings fall at least an hour after sunset.
- Night time is marked as auto. You can change it, and set it back to auto.
- For drones, Auto night uses your location and take-off time.
- Importing a logbook without night times? Blades estimates them from the route and the times.
The numbers in your logbook are your responsibility. Check them against the rules of your authority.