What is recommended for checkpoint selection when planning a night VFR cross-country flight?

When planning a night VFR cross-country flight, choosing prominently lighted checkpoints along the route is crucial for enhancing situational awareness and improving navigation. At night, visibility is significantly reduced, making it more challenging to identify natural landmarks or terrain features. Prominently lighted checkpoints, such as towns, stadiums, or other large structures, provide pilots with visual references that can be easily seen from the air even in darkness. These checkpoints aid in confirming position and maintaining orientation while flying.

Using landmarks strictly within a limited distance, solely relying on GPS, or only selecting airports excludes valuable visual aids that can facilitate navigation. Checkpoints should not be limited to just airports or only to close proximity landmarks, as they do not account for the broader context of the flight path and the advantages of using more visible references. Thus, incorporating well-lit landmarks into the route allows for greater safety and confidence when flying at night.