Thanks to everyone who has responded to this thread. I hope the discussion keeps coming for a while because to be truthful, I'm not too much more wiser than I was at the start....(some who know me may well say I wasn't all that "wise" to start with.....just "old" as my handle suggests!
I think that no matter what has been opined to date, there is no escaping from the AIP requirements in ENR 1.10 as per my original post, however, a phone call to the BOM on the number available to us all, when in doubt, may well produce some alternatives.
Additionally, we all need to remember that having no visible horizon on a very black night does not automatically mean you are "IFR". The weather and met conditions may well be perfect with "visibility" technically unlimited but it still doesn't make you "IFR" because you are clearly in VMC. It does of course mean that you'll need to be flying on the clocks and have sound instrument flying ability which the NVFR rating clearly requires you to have. If you don't have those skills, you may well wind up as a smoking hole in the ground (pardon the pun) with smoke from the bush fire started by your crash being the only smoke in the entire state.
I guess that was the rationale behind the thread in the first place - that is to say, is there any difference (en-route at cruise I mean) between being in a smoke restricted visibility situation or being up there on a black night with nothing to see at all, but in perfect met conditions nevertheless?
Thanks again all, Cheers-
Old (none the wiser) rotorhead
Last edited by oldrotorhead; 22nd Sep 2012 at 07:44.