Recently, Andrew Sarangan posted:

On Mar 3, 8:24 am, Matt Whiting wrote:
Andrew Sarangan wrote:
On Mar 2, 12:03 pm, Mxsmanic wrote:

Andrew Sarangan writes:

Not necessarily. For driving, you only need a clear view of the
road and traffic ahead. Whether you can see the scenery around
you is irrelevant for safe driving. Except for the darkness
inside the cabin, which makes it harder to read maps, the
darkness outside is not a big factor. As long as you can see the
horizon, airports, runways and other airplanes, it does not make
a big difference how much of the scenery you can see.

What about terrain?

Terrain avoidance at night becomes a problem only in unpopulated
areas under an overcast moonless sky. It has happened, so it is a
real issue, but most pilots fly in areas where there are at least
some ground lights, moon or stars, and it is really not that hard
to tell if you are heading towards a mountain. On the other hand,
unlit towers are a real concern, regardless of whether it is day or
night, and this is why they get NOTAM'd.

If you are flying the minimum IFR altitudes, it still should not be a
problem, unless there is a chart error.

Matt- Hide quoted text -

True, but we are talking about flying VFR at night and how to avoid
terrain under those circumstances.

That's why sectionals are handy, and pre-flight planning is a good idea.
It's really easy to avoid terrain if you read the chart and stay above the
altitude of the highest obstacle in the sector, which is clearly marked in
large numbers. I don't understand why pilots would fly at night with
insufficient information to be safe.

Neil