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14 CFR 61.329 · Van Nuys Airport
Sport Pilot Night Flying: What 14 CFR 61.329 Actually Requires
A sport pilot may fly at night, and has been able to since 22 October 2025. 14 CFR 61.329 requires 3 hours of night flight training, one night cross-country landing at an airport 25 NM away, 10 night takeoffs and full-stop landings, an instructor endorsement — and either a part 67 medical certificate or BasicMed.
Legal since 22 Oct 20253 hrs training · 10 night landingsMedical or BasicMed required5.0 ★ · 85 Google reviews
3 hrsnight flight training required by 14 CFR 61.329(a)
25 NMminimum distance for the night cross-country landing
10night takeoffs and full-stop landings under 61.329(a)(2)
5.0 ★85 Google reviews
The change
Can a sport pilot fly at night?
Yes. Since the MOSAIC final rule took effect on 22 October 2025, 14 CFR 61.315(c)(5) prohibits a sport pilot from flying at night “except as provided in § 61.329”, and 14 CFR 61.329 sets out how to get the privilege. Before that date the prohibition was flat, with no exception at all.
This is the single most under-reported part of MOSAIC. Ask around at any airport and most of the people who will confidently tell you a sport pilot flies daylight only are describing law that was superseded nearly a year ago. We had that sentence on our own pages until we went and read the rule.
The catch is real, though, and it defeats a lot of the people this certificate exists for. 14 CFR 61.329(b) requires you to either hold a medical certificate issued under part 67 or meet the conditions of 14 CFR 61.113(i), which is BasicMed. A US driver license under 14 CFR 61.23(c)(1) gets you the certificate and it gets you the daylight. It does not get you the night.
So the honest summary is this. Night is now a training question for anyone who can hold a medical, and it is still closed to anyone who cannot. If you chose sport pilot specifically to avoid an Aviation Medical Examiner, nothing about night flying has changed for you.
The requirements
What 14 CFR 61.329 asks for, item by item
Five conditions, all of them in one short section. There is no checkride and no new certificate at the end of it — the logbook endorsement is the privilege.
01
3 hours of night flight training
From an authorized instructor, in the category and class of aircraft you want the privilege in. Training in an airplane single-engine land does not carry over to anything else, so the privilege is as narrow as the training that earned it.
02
One night cross-country with a 25 NM landing
14 CFR 61.329(a)(1) requires at least one cross-country flight during that training, at night, with a landing at an airport at least 25 nautical miles from the departure airport. Powered parachutes are excepted. From Van Nuys, Camarillo and Santa Paula both sit comfortably beyond 25 NM.
03
10 night takeoffs and 10 full-stop landings
14 CFR 61.329(a)(2). Full stop, not touch and go. Done here, that means ten circuits at a Class D airport with a working tower, in the busiest general aviation airspace in the country, which is a great deal more useful than ten circuits at a quiet strip.
04
A part 67 medical certificate or BasicMed
14 CFR 61.329(b). This is the condition people miss. BasicMed under 14 CFR 61.23(c)(3) needs a medical certificate held at some point after 14 July 2006, a medical education course inside 24 calendar months, and a physician examination under part 68 inside 48 calendar months.
05
An instructor endorsement
14 CFR 61.329(c): a logbook endorsement certifying that you met the training requirements and are proficient at operating the aircraft at night in that category and class. Your instructor writes it, and from that moment you hold the privilege.
06
Everything else still applies
Night does not suspend the rest of subpart J. One passenger under 14 CFR 61.315(c)(4). 10,000 ft MSL or 2,000 ft AGL under (c)(11). Three statute miles of visibility and visual reference to the surface under (c)(12) and (c)(13). And the 14 CFR 61.325 endorsement for Class B, C, D and towered fields.
The medical question
Which route to night is open to you?
The training is the easy part. Which of the three medical routes you can use decides whether night is available at all, so work this out before you pay for night instruction.
| Your situation | Night under 14 CFR 61.329? | What you would need |
|---|---|---|
| You hold a current third-class medical certificate | Yes | Just the 61.329 training and endorsement. Your part 67 medical satisfies 61.329(b) directly. |
| You held a medical certificate at some point after 14 July 2006 and it was never suspended or revoked | Yes, via BasicMed | BasicMed under 14 CFR 61.23(c)(3) and part 68: the online medical education course inside 24 calendar months and a physician examination inside 48 calendar months, then the 61.329 training. |
| You have never applied for an FAA medical certificate | No | BasicMed requires a previously-held medical, so the route is closed until you apply for and are issued one. If you can pass a third-class medical, that is the shorter path. |
| You have had a medical certificate denied, suspended or revoked, or a Special Issuance withdrawn | No | 14 CFR 61.303(b) also blocks the driver-license route in that situation. This needs resolving with the FAA before either day or night flying is available. |
| You are flying on a US driver license under 14 CFR 61.23(c)(1) and intend to keep it that way | No | Day flying only. This is the honest trade the sport certificate asks you to make, and it is why the private pilot certificate is still the right answer for a lot of people. |
If you are not sure which row you are in, that is exactly what a free consultation is for. We would rather spend half an hour on it than sell you night training you cannot legally use. The medical rules are laid out on our sport pilot medical requirements page.
Why it is worth having
What night flying over Los Angeles is actually like
The LA basin at night is one of the reasons people learn to fly here rather than somewhere cheaper. From 3,500 feet over the Sepulveda Pass the whole grid is laid out below you, the Hollywood Sign is lit, and the 405 is a river of white and red running down to the coast. It does not get old.
It is also genuinely different flying. Depth perception on the round-out is harder. A dark area is not necessarily terrain and not necessarily water, and in this basin it is quite often a hill. Judging your height on final over an unlit approach path takes practice, which is exactly why 14 CFR 61.329 asks for ten full-stop landings rather than three.
The practical benefit is bigger than the scenery. Sunset in Los Angeles is around 4:45pm in December. Without night privileges, a winter afternoon lesson has to be finished and put away by mid-afternoon, and anyone who works normal hours loses half the year. With the endorsement, a Tuesday evening flight is a normal thing to do.
None of that changes the medical condition in 61.329(b). It is worth being blunt about the sequence: sort the medical question first, then book the training.
Common misreadings
Six things people get wrong about sport pilot night flying
Every one of these has appeared in something we have been sent by a customer since October 2025.
1
“Sport pilots cannot fly at night”
Correct until 22 October 2025, wrong since. 14 CFR 61.315(c)(5) now reads “except as provided in § 61.329”. If a page says otherwise it has not been updated.
2
“MOSAIC removed the medical requirement for night”
The opposite. MOSAIC created the night privilege and attached a medical condition to it in 14 CFR 61.329(b). Night is the one sport pilot privilege you cannot exercise on a driver license.
3
“You need a night rating”
There is no such thing in the US system. 14 CFR 61.329(c) is a logbook endorsement from an authorized instructor. No FAA paperwork, no examiner, no fee.
4
“Touch and goes count”
14 CFR 61.329(a)(2) says 10 takeoffs and 10 landings to a full stop. Ten touch and goes do not satisfy it, and an instructor who signs the endorsement on that basis has signed something untrue.
5
“The cross-country can be any night flight”
It has to include a landing at an airport at least 25 nautical miles from the departure airport, and it has to happen during the 61.329(a) training. A local scenic flight over the basin does not count.
6
“Night privileges carry across aircraft”
14 CFR 61.329(a) ties the training to a category and class, and 61.329(c) ties the endorsement to the same. Night privileges in an airplane single-engine land are night privileges in an airplane single-engine land.
The fleet
Where the night training happens
Night training here is flown in the same aircraft you did your day training in, from the same ramp.
Van Nuys is a Class D field with an operating control tower, which means every night circuit is also radio practice. The endorsement in 14 CFR 61.325 is a prerequisite for operating here at all. Wider context on the MOSAIC rule pillar.
Redbird MCX
Night procedures start in the simulator
FAA-approved, fully enclosed, and it moves. Setting the scenario to night in the Redbird costs the same as setting it to day, and you can fly the same approach six times in an hour with the instructor freezing it each time.
Simulator hours are built into every programme we run. A standalone Redbird session is $189.
Your instructor
Instructors who will not sign an endorsement you have not earned
Every instructor here holds a commercial or ATP certificate plus a CFI and a current medical, and the instructor is legally pilot in command on every flight you take with them. Eleven of them, so night slots in December do not become a queue.
The 14 CFR 61.329 endorsement is a proficiency statement, not an attendance record. If your ten landings were ten survivals rather than ten landings, you will fly more of them. That is the correct answer and it is the one you want from anybody who signs your logbook.
What people say
5.0 ★ · 85 Google reviews
Three things come up again and again in what people write about training here, and none of them is the price.
★
The debrief, not the flight
The most repeated compliment in our reviews is not the aeroplane and it is not the ramp. It is that somebody sat down afterwards and explained what happened.
★
Lessons that actually happen
Eleven instructors and a fleet we own and maintain ourselves. Reviewers mention scheduling more than anything else, which tells you what most schools get wrong.
★
The number does not move
What you enrol at is what you finish at. On an $8,400 package that promise is the entire point, and people write about it because it is not universal.
Programmes and prices
What it costs, and both ways to start
Night training sits inside the programmes below rather than being sold as a separate product, because the sequence depends on your logbook and your medical route. Book a free consultation and we will scope it.
Start here
Sport Pilot Certificate
$8,400 / complete
The full FAA sport pilot certificate. Flown on a valid US driver license under 14 CFR 61.23(c)(1) — and night available under 14 CFR 61.329 if you add a medical or BasicMed.
Standard Private Pilot
$10,900 / 40 hrs logged
Night flying is inside the certificate rather than bolted on with an endorsement, and there is no 14 CFR 61.316 aircraft restriction. Needs a third-class medical certificate before solo.
Comprehensive Private Pilot
$15,900 / 60 hrs logged
Our most chosen private pilot programme. 55 hours single-engine, 5 hours in the Redbird and 10 hours of ground school, which is roughly the national average built into the price.
Solo Certificate
$5,500 / to first solo
For people whose whole ambition is the moment the instructor climbs out. Not a certificate to carry passengers, but every hour counts toward sport or private afterwards.
Discovery Flight For One
$229 / 60 min
A real lesson. You fly the aircraft, the time is loggable dual instruction, and the full $229 is credited against any programme if you enrol within 24 hours.
Redbird Simulator Session
$189 / session
An hour in the full-motion Redbird MCX with an instructor. A cheap way to find out whether you can handle radio work before you spend anything on an aeroplane.
$500 off any private pilot programme this summer. Standard $10,400 · Comprehensive $15,400 · Premium $22,000. Ask when you enroll. The sport pilot package stays at $8,400.
Next step
Work out the medical question before you buy night training
Half an hour with an instructor will tell you which of the three routes in 14 CFR 61.329(b) is open to you, and whether night is worth planning for at all. The consultation is free.
Discovery Flight For One
$229
60 minutes · you fly the aircraft · credited in full on enrolment within 24 hours
MOSAIC and the new rules
The MOSAIC rule and what it changedDoes my aircraft qualify under 14 CFR 61.316?Sport pilot medical requirementsSport pilot endorsements explainedLight sport aircraft rules after MOSAICSport pilot license cost in Los Angeles
FAQ
Sport Pilot Night Flying: The Questions We Get Asked
Yes, since 22 October 2025. 14 CFR 61.329 allows it after 3 hours of night flight training, one night cross-country with a landing at an airport at least 25 nautical miles away, 10 night takeoffs and 10 landings to a full stop, and an instructor endorsement. 14 CFR 61.329(b) also requires a medical certificate issued under part 67 or BasicMed.
Yes. 14 CFR 61.329(b) requires either a part 67 medical certificate or compliance with 14 CFR 61.113(i), which is BasicMed. A US driver license under 14 CFR 61.23(c)(1) is enough for day flying and is not enough at night.
No. There is no separate rating. 14 CFR 61.329(c) is a logbook endorsement from an authorized instructor certifying you meet the training requirements and are proficient at night. There is no checkride and no FAA fee.
Ten takeoffs and ten landings to a full stop at night, under 14 CFR 61.329(a)(2). Touch and goes do not count — the rule says full stop.
It must include a landing at an airport at least 25 nautical miles from the departure airport, under 14 CFR 61.329(a)(1). From Van Nuys, Camarillo and Santa Paula both clear that distance.
Yes. 14 CFR 61.329(b) accepts BasicMed under 14 CFR 61.113(i). BasicMed itself requires that you held a medical certificate at some point after 14 July 2006, completed the medical education course within 24 calendar months, and had a physician examination under part 68 within 48 calendar months.
Yes. One passenger under 14 CFR 61.315(c)(4), 10,000 ft MSL or 2,000 ft AGL under (c)(11), 3 statute miles visibility and visual reference to the surface under (c)(12) and (c)(13), and the 14 CFR 61.325 endorsement for Class B, C and D airspace and towered airports.
No. 14 CFR 61.329(a) requires the 3 hours of night training in the category and class you want the privilege in, and the 61.329(c) endorsement is written for that category and class.
Night training is priced inside the $8,400 sport pilot package when taken as part of the course. Bought separately after certification it is a short block of instruction, and we scope it against your logbook at a free consultation rather than quoting a number that will not fit.
No. Before 22 October 2025, 14 CFR 61.315(c)(5) prohibited night flight outright with no exception. The MOSAIC final rule at 90 FR 35034 added the exception and created 14 CFR 61.329.
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I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
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It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
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We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
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I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
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Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
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Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
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I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
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Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
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We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
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Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
SAFETY FIRST
★★★★★
Very safety and detail oriented. Pre-flight briefing explained everything there was. To my knowledge, this flight school is exceptional in their ability.
DISCOVERY FLIGHT
★★★★★
I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
SUNSET CIRRUS
★★★★★
It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
FLYING LESSON
★★★★★
We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
KIDS LUXURY FLIGHT
★★★★★
I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
HONEYMOON SURPRISE
★★★★★
Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
FULL-MOTION SIM
★★★★★
Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
★★★★★
I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
★★★★★
Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
★★★★★
We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
★★★★★
Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
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