Actually, I just checked the Jeppesen charts for EDTY. All 3 approaches (ILS 28, RNAV 28, RNAV 10) say “Procedure not to be used during activity of Night Low Flying System (NLFS)”. One of their racetracks goes by the aerodrome.
Going supersonic at 500ft AGL at night must be a lot of fun :)
Not enough carrots to go round… 
I believe the original rationale behind this “VFR Night requires ATC” is the military Night Low Flying System and the desire to keep VFR pilots away from it (GPS didn’t exist when the rules were drawn up). I once had a map of the NLFS routes, it’s basically between TACANs and spans quite a bit of airspace. IIRC, one route was going by EDTY. You also find a note in several IAPs in Germany saying something like “not available during activation of NLFS”.
However, I have never seen any military activity myself. They barely fly during daytime, why should they do so at night?
The “delay” nuisance aside, I think that is a very good system. Being in touch with ATC is a good thing at night and it’s the cheapest way to experience IFR flying without having to get the ticket
I do too, just remember that I am coming from an environment where popup IFR in Class G is common, and at night you just go… I am still learning lots about how things work here.
[quote fixed up]
So I called Stuttgart DFS office. No problem on an EASA licence, the AIP refers to foreign issued national licences.
Jon, thanks for this. I have not heard back from LBA re. my email inquiry on this matter in the meantime.
I still do not understand what they were clearing me for…. VFR in class E? How? VFR is uncontrolled in class E.
Night VFR outside the pattern in Germany is controlled flight, it is more like IFR than VFR. You are required to be in radio contact with ATC, get a squawk and have to follow their instructions. FIS service is not available in Germany at night (= SS+30), the frequencies are switched to the respective ATC units. For ATC, you are just like other IFR traffic. In addition to that, there is a Night Low Flying System (NLFS) which blocks large portions of airspace at night.
The “delay” nuisance aside, I think that is a very good system. Being in touch with ATC is a good thing at night and it’s the cheapest way to experience IFR flying without having to get the ticket 
If you’re interested in the legalese behind this, it’s Exhibit 5 to LuftVO. It says that for VFR night outside the traffic pattern, an ATC clearance is required.
But you are right in the sense that I may not understand the basis that EASA Regulations have effect…I assume the Basic Regulation has been accepted into say UK law by virtue of the UK parliament enacting an amendment to the Air Navigation Order?
Not exactly. The ANO has been amended to exclude any law that the Basic Regulation covers, or at least to be consistent with it. So Schedule 7 for example now only covers national licences, not Part-FCL licences. Most of the requirements of Part-FCL are not mentioned, because they are directly applicable. It does not have to be “accepted” by any UK legislative act.
No. You need to understand the difference between a Directive and a Regulation
Most of the aviation law under discussion here is Regulation, stemming from the Basic Regulation. It is directly binding on all actors within scope.
But I didn’t make any comment on the meaning of Regulation in my quotation….merely that a Directive stems from EU lawmaking that is not effective in a given state until that state’s parliament enacts it…
But you are right in the sense that I may not understand the basis upon which EASA Regulations have effect…I assume the Basic Regulation has been accepted into say UK law by virtue of the UK parliament enacting an amendment to the Air Navigation Order? Forgive my laziness for not researching this myself
What I do not understand is that when EDTY called Langen to get my clearance I was informed of the delay.
In order to let you depart on a VFR night flight plan, they have to activate their airspace F. Only one flight either IFR or VFR night is allowed inside “F” at one time. Both need to be coordinated by Langen. So if they had IFR inbounds and/or outbounds when you called for your clearance, and they have plenty of those as there are quite a few bizjets based there and both ATPL schools of Stuttgart and one from Nürnberg use EDTY as their main training airfield, you simply had to wait your turn. Woudn’t have been different if you had asked for an IFR departure.
This is still confusing me :)
So on the night in question I had completed three circuits at night due to PAX currency no problem… I filed a navex EDTY to LBU to DKB to EDTY…
What I do not understand is that when EDTY called Langen to get my clearance I was informed of the delay. I still do not understand what they were clearing me for…. VFR in class E? How? VFR is uncontrolled in class E.
But anyway, is this something that I did? If I had filed DCT DKB DCT LBU DCT DKB DCT would it have affected the situation?
