Heliport,
Any discussion on night vfr by single pilots should be welcomed, especially those over water.
Maybe then sanity will prevail if all the information is made known.
My personal records are a pretty good indication that standard operating procedures for such flights are in need of major reinforcing.
The defenition of night vfr used to be navigation under visual flight rules with reference to the ground or water. i can't find that defenition anywhere anymore.
Flying into black holes without adequate instruments is flying blind. No matter how good a pilot you may be.
I was once given the opportunity to participate in an FAA demo on vertigo or loss of spatial awareness at John Wayne Airport in Orange County. I died in about thirty seconds with minimum instruments once the work load was increased on me.
These pilots and crew who are no longer with us might still be here if the aircraft they were in were better instrumented and proper training of crew kept up to date. I'm not saying it wasn't in this recent case, nor do i intimate that the pilot was not the most professional.
The recent Central Queensland accident causes have yet to be determined but a long descending left turn into water (the radar track) has all the hallmarks of spatial disorientation.
We have a right to comment as the reputation of our industry is at risk, doctors and nurses are worried, next the patient might refuse to get in.