Originally Posted by
Mike Flynn
I am still amazed you can get an unrestricted night rating with only a few hours training in the local area and then fly over the sea and mountains without having visual reference to the ground.
But withe a night rating you are still required to have visual reference with the ground. If there are no lights (ie over the sea) and no horizon or sky references then you can be definition only be flying by sole reference to instruments which specifically requires an IR or IMC rating. Under those conditions your rating to fly VMC at night is negated by there being no VMC present.