VFR equipment, day vs night

To fly VFR a plane must carry certain gear. Night VFR needs everything day VFR needs, plus more, so every item is either a day basic (also required at night) or a night-only extra. Learn the split, not two lists.

Day VFR core (CAR 605.14), enough to fly and be found:

• airspeed indicator, altimeter, magnetic compass
• tachometer, oil pressure gauge, oil temperature gauge (for each air-cooled engine with a separate oil system)
• an ELT (required for all VFR by CAR 605.38)

Carried on board for every power-driven take-off, day or night (CAR 602.60(1), operational and emergency equipment; ultra-lights excepted):

• a checklist or placards for operating within the flight-manual limits
• a timepiece readily available to each flight crew member, showing hours, minutes and seconds (602.60(1)(f))
• a hand-held fire extinguisher in the cockpit, and a first aid kit
• current charts and publications for the route and probable diversions (VFR OTT, night VFR, IFR)
• a flashlight readily available to each crew member at night

Night VFR adds (CAR 605.16), so you can fly without an outside horizon and be seen:

• position (navigation) lights and an anti-collision light
• a means of illuminating the flight instruments, and a landing light (only when carrying passengers)
• a turn-and-slip indicator or turn coordinator, and a heading indicator (gyroscopic direction indicator, when the aerodrome is not visible)
• a sensitive altimeter (adjustable for barometric pressure)
• an adequate source of electrical energy and spare fuses (at least 50% of each rating)

The split: by day the horizon does the work, so the panel needs only the basics. At night you lose the horizon and other traffic loses sight of you, so the rule adds a turn instrument and a heading reference, backup electrical power to run them, and lights.

Trap: private night VFR does not require an attitude indicator or a VSI. You keep the wings level with the turn coordinator, not an artificial horizon. Those two are added only for higher-tier night ops (private-operator and commercial, CAR 605.16(4)). The lights and the turn instrument are the real night giveaways. Second trap: a timepiece is required, but you will not find it in 605.14; it sits in the operational-and-emergency list at CAR 602.60(1)(f), along with the checklist, extinguisher, and first aid kit.

Practice