The prospect of a night landing on a moonless night an a little 'flat-top' in the SNS in the pouring rain when the copilot is the only one who can see the landing area is not one that can fill anyone with glee. When it's just one of 15 landings on an evening shuttle it then becomes daunting.
Thank god for rad alts - we didn't even have those in the 105s during the 80s but struggled on regardless. The 'stab' system was three green lights that were either on or off but you had trouble feeling the difference - good old Ferranti!
These days a Rad Ht hold is a blessing and lets you relax a little on a busy shuttle.
What are the stats? Here in Brazil they banned offshore ops at night after an accident. Were they right or were they wrong?
I did my apprentiship in an ASW Wessex and count my blessings, many others may not have the benefit of so many nights spent below 200' and landing on stuff with a bit of rock and roll. Certainly I can say that night ops are not something to enthuse about
