Originally Posted by
gulliBell
Yep. If I might dare to speculate. If the pilot did what the RFM required, and maintained orientation during night flight by visual reference to ground objects, presumably he would have arrived safely at destination and we wouldn't be having this discussion. It matters not whether an AH was fitted, he had to be able to see sufficient lights on ground, or have enough celestial illumination to see the ground, to get a proper sense of his orientation. Because without orientation you invariably end up flying into the ground, whether that be day or night.
Completely agree with this. I've flown over some areas that were so poorly illuminated that it all just looks like an endless sea of black. It's not possible to determine orientation using ground references when that happens.