There are many good points on this thread and on the Automation versus Mandraulics thread.
For me, T4 Risen has hit the nail on the head, VMC low level handling at night in poor weather while subconsciously not wanting to lose sight of a rig can be very difficult. Rates of turn at a slower speed, single point visual clues, downwind turning into wind, landing lights on in poor or patchy vis etc etc can all contribute massively to spatial disorientation.
While I am a huge supporter of automation, albeit with some of the provisos outlined by 212man in the other thread, I just don't think that we can treat helicopters like fixed wing, at least in the last stages of a landing offshore.
Somewhere during the latter stages of the approach, the two diverge completely and its this area for which we have to devise procedures and techniques to mitigate risks.
Night shuttles will always have to retain a greater proportion of manual flying and obviously, ARA style approaches won't be possible after the first landing.
While we must continue progress, automate and reduce risk, I also think that lessons can be learned from history. Many thousands of safe night offshore landings have been made over the years in aircraft which were ill equipped by today's standards. Those of us who have many hundreds of offshore night shuttle landings did not survive by luck alone, and remember, in the 1980s, on the SNS, some of it was single pilot, even at night.
When we had two pilots, on a dark hazy night with little wind and limited vis, we used to brief each approach, talk each other through it and monitor the PF like a hawk calling parameters until we came over the deck. 20+ landings could be a long and tiring night but it was routine.
While I am not advocating going back to the old days, lessons can be learned for we were neither stupid nor poorly trained. I was fortunate enough to have some of the best and most tailored line training from pilots with enormous local knowledge and night flying experience. Although there are cost, training and logistic implications, maybe NNS pilots could spend some time on the SNS annually to help increase familiarity with night offshore landings. Recognition and taking mitigating action is, after all, half the battle.
Its just a thought but in my view it would be a mistake to say we will no longer fly at night. To do so would denude not just skills on the North Sea but potentially the whole industry over time.