Night flying changes everything. Obviously. It is dark for a start.
It might be the same airfield. It is hopefully the same runway. And I am prettey certain it is the same aircraft. And yet at night it feels like a completely different activity. All the visual references and cues you rely on during the day are gone. The lights of the ground merge with the lights of the sky in ways that take some getting used to. And Elstree at night has its own particular character. And weird runway lighting.
I did my night rating at Elstree and it's one of the parts of my training I remember most clearly. Not because it was the hardest, although some of it was, but because it felt like a genuine step into a different kind of flying. The world looks completely different from 1,000 feet at night.
If you're thinking about a night rating, do it. It makes you a better pilot and the views are spectacular.
