A rating, not a licence
Your licence says what level of pilot you are. A rating says in which extra conditions you may use that licence. Night flying and flight under instrument rules are ratings. So is the class of aircraft, such as single-engine piston. You can hold a PPL and still be limited to day, visual flying in one class of aeroplane.
Training for either rating is done with an organisation approved for that rating, and it ends with a skill test or an assessment of competence with an examiner. The medical you already hold has to cover the flying you will do. An instrument rating used professionally needs the professional medical, not a private one.
Night rating
A night rating lets the holder fly at night under the privileges of the licence, in visual conditions, once the aircraft and the aerodrome are suitable. It does not let you fly in cloud. The training is dual flying at night with an instructor, some of it away from the circuit, and solo take-offs and landings at night after you have been signed off for them.
Many private pilots add it soon after the PPL because winter daylight is short. It is still a separate course, with its own instructor time, aircraft time, and test. A discovery flight and a day PPL do not include it.
Instrument rating
An instrument rating allows flight under instrument flight rules, including in cloud, within the limits printed on the rating. A single-engine instrument rating and a multi-engine instrument rating are not the same rating. The aircraft has to be equipped for the flight, and the aerodrome and the airspace have to allow it. The rating is the pilot’s qualification, not a permission to ignore weather, icing, or a broken instrument.
The full course is ground training and flight training, then an examination of theoretical knowledge if you do not already hold the relevant exams, and a skill test. Pilots who already hold instrument time, or who trained under another authority, can sometimes follow the shorter competency-based instrument rating course instead. How much shorter depends on what the authority accepts as prior experience.
The basic instrument rating
EASA introduced the basic instrument rating (BIR, FCL.835) for private pilots who want to fly under instrument rules with narrower privileges than a full instrument rating. It is a rating in its own right, trained in modules. Its minima are higher than a full instrument rating: the decision height must be at least 200 ft above the normal approach minimum, with at least 1,500 m visibility. An airline will not treat it as an instrument rating, and it does not replace one on a professional course.
Competency-based instrument training is different again: it is a way of reaching an instrument rating by crediting earlier experience, not a third licence. The names get shortened in school adverts until they look like the same product. Ask which rating will be endorsed on the licence when you pass.
Keeping it valid
Ratings are not all alike. Under Part-FCL a night rating does not expire, but to carry passengers at night you need at least one take-off, approach and landing at night in the previous 90 days (FCL.060), unless you hold an instrument rating. A class rating such as single-engine piston has its own revalidation, and an instrument rating must be revalidated every year. Some ratings need a specific flight with an instructor or an examiner inside a set period. The licence page, not the logbook total, shows what is current.
Sources
Checked on 17 October 2026. Rules are amended, so read the current text before you rely on a figure.
- EASA, Easy Access Rules for Aircrew (Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011), Part-FCL: https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/document-library/easy-access-rules/online-publications/easy-access-rules-aircrew-regulation-eu-no
- UK CAA, Night rating for aeroplanes: https://www.caa.co.uk/general-aviation/pilot-licences/ratings/night-rating-for-aeroplanes/