Presumably this is why FAA/CAA/EASA require more stringent conditions/training to allow night VFR?
Visibility is LESS at night in respect of all manner of things - cloud cover, depth perception and situational awareness is affected.
However, I do not have much flying experience so take it up with the FAA under FAR or the ICAO?
Visibility is less at night if you have no lights, however if you have lights on the object you're looking at then it's visible from a much farther distance in darkness than it is during the day. See those bright white things in the sky at night? They are millions, billions, trillions of miles away yet you see them clearly at night. Can't see them at all during the day however. Same goes for any other object be it a car, a plane or a uav. When it's got lights at night you can see them at much greater distances than you can during the daylight.
Faa having more stringent training requirements for vfr at night for aircraft is due to the fact that not all objects have lights on them, such as buildings, trees, poles, mountains, and so on. Aircraft fly very fast and you are inside it, it's much harder if not impossible to see unlit objects at night depending on conditions so those rules make sense for them.
They do not really make sense for uav flight however, as you are stationary and the uav is flying much slower within a very small area. It's easy to track the uavs navigational lights as well as any other aircraft that might invade your flight zone. It's also easy to know what's in your proposed flight zone to avoid any obstacles if you're semi intelligent. Cities are usually well lit at night anyway so you can still see obstacles if you don't have the foresight to know your surroundings which you should always be aware of before flying. Not to mention that if you crash an airplane into a tree you're likely going to kill everyone on board. If you crash your uav into a tree you only wreck your uav.
As someone who's flown at night quite often I think a complete ban on night flying is without any legitimate reason. I would be more willing to understand a lower ceiling and a max distance of a half mile away at night or something, but a complete ban is ridiculous and without merit.
As always common sense and concern for safety should be used when flying, but really who other than a complete moron would fly carelessly in any situation, day or night, and risk destroying their $3000+ uav? I don't know about you guys but my #1 concern when flying is safety and making sure my uav doesn't crash into anything. If there is a risk then I do not fly there. I don't really see anyone other than beginners flying in an unsafe manner simply due to not knowing the dangers.
Who knows what this guy was really doing but something doesn't add up here, it's very easy to see police helicopters at night. Especially if they are looking for someone cause they fly in circles and have a super bright spotlight pointing at the ground. There's no way you can not see one if you're anywhere near it. Plus every one I've ever seen is quite loud.
At any rate just because some people might be incapable of flying a uav safely at night doesn't mean everyone is. It's really not that hard if you can see normally. If you can't then don't, but I can, I have and I will continue to do so.