The night qualification is a really nice little extra rating that can be either incorporated into the JAA PPL course or done as a standalone rating after passing. It entails a minimum of 5 hours of flying of which at least 1 hour must be navigation and 1 hour must be solo (incorporating 5 full stop solo landings). Even if you a one of those people that thinks "I'm never going to need to fly at night" it is worth doing, it provides a different perspective on the views below and can sharpen up your flying. For the navigation we usually go across to Newcastle following features like main roads and built up areas. If you are headed in a commercial direction and want to make a career out of flying the night qualification is one of the things that you must possess before commencing a commercial pilots licence.