IO540,
Sorry to pick on you(!)
But the 90 day passenger carriage requirement is another hassle; I rarely bother to fly the 3 full-stop circuits to revalidate mine nowadays
Only one of the three take-offs and landings needs to be at night to carry passengers at night. Surly one circuit isn't too demanding?
In my training, we got totally lost and the instructor (who didn't have a clue where we were either) just said "well this shows that you can get lost very easily at night" and signed me off
When I brief students for night nav, I discuss with them that it is far harder than daytime navigation, and I discuss with them the use of navaids when flying x-country at night. Very often, one of the main points which students take away from their night x-country dual is how difficult it is.
I accept that this is not universal, though. An ex-colleague of mine was well known for only ever taking his students on one night navigaiton route, which followed the coastline from town to town the whole way - a completely pointless exercise IMHO.
UK night training isn't done in anything like a dark night; they wouldn't be able to because the students need a visible horizon, and on a dark night there isn't anything at all to see out of the window
Of cousre it's not possible to guarantee a dark night, but certainly having a dark night would not prevent me from doing training. There are plenty of lights on the ground for visual reference, and a dark night is the perfect time to demonstrate to students the illusions which we've discussed in the classroom, especially the false horizon which can occur when street lights are the only visual reference, and how to use the instruments to combat these illusions. If I didn't fly on dark nights, it would be impossible to demonstrate these things effectively.
One needs the IMCR or the IR to use it fully
I disagree. What is needed is a good understanding of instruments - both flight and navigation instruments. Many PPLs have this understanding despite having never had an IMCR nor an IR.
You do make some very good points about the general safety issues of single engine at night, and the lack of availability of airfields - but I think the big picture is slightly more balanced than what you are trying to put over.
It sounds to me like Vulcanpilot had an excellent instructor for his night training!
FFF
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