I do agree that one should not be doing "real" night flight (by that I mean flying when it is actually dark
) unless fully instrument capable, in terms of both aircraft control and navigation.
Assuming night=darkness, there won't be a horizon so how can a plain PPL do it??? There also won't be anything visible on the ground (except the occassional potentially grossly misleading lights) so how can he navigate with a map and compass?
When I did the CAA night rating, both me and the instructor got lost, by something like 20 miles. He was a very seasoned ATPL, too. Then we either did a VOR/DME fix, or I got the GPS out; I can't recall which but I do recall the instructor using that incident, entirely correctly, as a lesson that it's dead easy to get lost at night. And by that time I was instrument capable (though not yet legalised).
Not to argue for stricter controls in this already grotesquely over-regulated area of human activity, but this is a really weird bit of the PPL training system. Fortunately, I guess, most people are smart enough to realise the problem and not many do fly at night. Most GA airfields being closed doesn't help.
I still don't understand how the night=IFR bit is reconciled with all those non IFR certified planes/helis flying around at night. Is there some ANO exemption for them all, requiring them to maintain VMC?