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RegulationsRegulations
Rules set the limits a pilot plans against. These guides explain flight time limitations, duty and rest, recency and the weather minima behind a legal flight, and where each limit comes from, in plain language rather than legalese.
19 guides
- Regulations
Fitness to fly: IMSAFE, alcohol and medication
The IMSAFE checklist, the FAA, EASA and UK alcohol rules and why the legal floor is not the safe ceiling, medication traps, and the scuba diving wait times.
10 min read Read - Regulations
Night VFR explained
What legally counts as night, whether VFR at night is allowed under EASA and the UK versus the FAA, and why Europe needs a night rating and the FAA does not.
11 min read Read - Regulations
VFR equipment requirements
What instruments and equipment a VFR flight needs by day and by night, the FAA's 91.205 lists against EASA's Part-NCO, plus the transponder as its own layer.
10 min read Read - Regulations
Class and type ratings explained
Class rating versus type rating, what each lets you fly, and how EASA's revalidated ratings compare with the FAA's certificate-based system.
8 min read Read - Regulations
Medical certificates explained
The classes of aviation medical and what each allows: the FAA's first, second and third class against EASA's Class 1, Class 2 and LAPL, with validity by age.
8 min read Read - Regulations
Position and anti-collision lights
An aircraft's navigation and anti-collision lights, the red-left green-right convention, when each must be shown, and how SERA.3215 and 14 CFR 91.209 compare.
9 min read Read - Regulations
Standby and reserve duty
What standby and reserve mean, how EASA airport standby differs from home standby, the FAA's three types of reserve, and how standby cuts into the maximum FDP.
11 min read Read - Regulations
Aircraft documents you must carry
What paperwork has to be aboard before you fly: the US ARROW documents, the longer EASA list under NCO.GEN.135, and where the two systems differ.
7 min read Read - Regulations
Supplemental oxygen requirements
When the rules require oxygen for crew and passengers, why the thresholds are cabin altitudes, and how 14 CFR 91.211 and EASA NCO.OP.190 differ.
8 min read Read - Regulations
Cumulative duty and flying-hour limits
How the rolling 28-day, annual and weekly limits on flight time and duty work, why a rolling window is not a calendar month, with EASA and FAA figures.
9 min read Read - Regulations
Special VFR explained
What a special VFR clearance is, the visibility and cloud conditions that come with it, the day and night limits, and how SERA.5010 and 14 CFR 91.157 differ.
8 min read Read - Regulations
Rest requirements and minimum rest
What counts as a rest period, how EASA and the FAA set the minimum rest before duty, the sleep opportunity, and the weekly rest that limits fatigue.
9 min read Read - Regulations
Fuel planning and reserves
Why a flight carries more fuel than the trip needs: the ICAO baseline, the FAA's VFR and IFR reserves, and EASA's general-aviation and commercial schemes.
8 min read Read - Regulations
Minimum heights and low-flying rules
How low you may legally fly: the congested-area and 500 ft rules, the open-air assembly trap, and how SERA.5005 and 14 CFR 91.119 compare.
9 min read Read - Regulations
Flight time limitations explained
Flight time, duty, flight duty period and rest explained, with the EASA/UK CAA and FAA limits attributed. Numbers differ, so check the current rule.
5 min read Read - Regulations
VFR weather minima and cruising levels
The visibility and distance-from-cloud minima for visual flight, and the semicircular cruising-level rule, with the ICAO, EASA and FAA figures attributed.
4 min read Read - Regulations
Acclimatisation and crossing time zones
How your body clock changes the flight duty period you may fly, how EASA and the FAA define an acclimatised state, and what the circadian low is.
11 min read Read - Regulations
Right-of-way rules in the air
Who gives way when two aircraft meet: the converging, head-on and overtaking rules, the category hierarchy, and how SERA.3210 and 14 CFR 91.113 line up.
9 min read Read - Regulations
Duty time, flight time and the flight duty period
The four terms behind every fatigue rule, how the maximum flight duty period is built from report time and sectors, and how EASA and the FAA differ.
10 min read Read