I have only a VFR and was wondering if anyone has had an engine failure at night, in a SEP? How would you cope and how would you know if the black patch below is a field, lake, trees etc? If your navigation is spot on, then it would be an easier task to identify these but what if you are also lost and you don't know where you are (well, buses come in two and threes....!)
Doing some night flying towards the rating (still haven't got it yet) i asked a similar question, my instructor said "keep the landing light off until you think your near the ground, then turn the landing light on, if you don't like what you see - turn it off"
Look for flood lights!! sport fields are your friends. Although a daylaight inspection of our closest sports field had very inconveniently placed, and very solid junction boxes between each light pole, very nasty if you chose to land between.
