But, for performance issues, and other things, I wonder how many
pilots have considered flying a cross county at night vs. during the day.

I have not flown a night cross country in nine years. (My last one was
a complete success, but probably the dumbest thing I've ever done in an
airplane.)

Mary and I decided, for all of the reasons already discussed in this
thread, to not fly at night unless absolutely necessary until our kids
are grown. As a result, we have only flown a tiny hand-full of hours
at night in recent years.

Night flying is pretty, and -- if the weather cooperates -- smooth as
glass. However, if your engine craps (which single engine planes are
occasionally prone to do) you're toast.

Given all the other risks we take in our lives, we figured that this
was a pretty easy one to eliminate.

Once the kids are on their own, however, I won't have any compunctions
about flying in the dark again.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"