Originally Posted by
RTN11
The main difference at night is in the landing,
Navigation at night is the same as it is during the day, you just have to select suitable waypoints which are visible at night - not a lake or a forest, preferably a nice big town. This is only touched on in the night rating, the main focus is on the landings.
Personally I think the night rating is one of the worst taught ratings in GA.
Everything is different at night starting with flight planning, how to do the walk around, cockpit organization, taxing, correct light use on the ground, flight path management at night (especially for takeoff), terrain clearance and weather avoidance, reliance on instruments etc etc etc.
The ability to confidently fly solely by reference to instruments is IMO a non optional requirement to safe night flight.
Night carries significantly higher risks which is why there is such a terrible GA night accident rate (up to 25 times higher probability of a fatal accident). A proper night flying rating should address the risk for every part of the flight and have clear and concrete training on how identify and then ameliorate those extra risks.
The night rating should be a lot more then a bunch of circuits and off you go !