Nothing in this entire game is set up for a true "night" experience.
IMO most folks want "night" so they can get in, drop bombs, and get out unmolested. You realize you can do that offline, too, right?
I agree with Drano. almost 100% of folks that "fly night missions" jack their gamma through the roof, to the point they should ask themselves "wait a sec, why did I want to fly at night??"
Not to mention other problems with not being able to see an aircraft 200 yards in front of you, just seeing the icon. Can't see which way the wings are banked or the nose it turned, if he's against dark sky pulling any kind of vertical move.
Night has no place in this game until HTC specifically DESIGNS it for night, including runway lights, city lights, proper illumination/glow of everything around these lights, "fog/haze glows" over major areas (which this game doesn't even have to illuminate!), plane-based radar, server-forced "no icon" mode, bad weather, high casualty rates before and after getting to target due to crashing or being led off course by enemy ELINT that deviates the radio beam they were following, AI controlled radar-following spotlights that instantly set every ack gun in 50 miles on you the second they hit you, barrage ballons, and not the least of which is radar-equipped night fighters that can sneak up to 50 yards before firing without being seen because it's pitch-freaking-black-midnight out!
None of that stuff is in this game. All of it would be required to even scratch the surface of a true "night mission" based game.