Originally Posted by
SASless
Shy is right on this.
Being a Dinosaur in this business of flying helicopters but blessed to have flown with NVG's after all those years using just the MK 1's in field operations from no lights beyond a single shrouded flashlight or hand held strobe light in the middle of some of the densest jungle and mountainous areas of the World.....NVG's are the absolute best aid one can use.
To offer a for instance.....we regularly trained in night ops at a remote place in the Southeast of the United States....with no external lights to be seen when we were out at unit authorized VMC minimums.
The LZ was a small flat open area with lots of broom straw field grass which is a light tan color....surround by 80-100 foot tall Pine Trees.
On a zero Moon overcast night....it was black dark out. With NVG's, even at the worst light level it was very easy to fly the circuits and do the landings, hover, and take offs.
We still did them without the NVG's...with no landing lights or nav lights....but it was a very hard thing to do.
Add Nav lights and as you approached the hover the grass would begin to show up visually.....add the rotating beacon and it got better yet.....and of course with the landing lights we were back to normal night ops.....and with the Night Sun on White Light....no problem at all.
With NVG's.....just the Nav Lights. on and it seemed the Landing Light was on when using just bare eyes.
With NVG's using the IR Filter over the Night Sun and the Light tweaked to the Flood Light mode.....again it was very easy.
After you fly with NVG's you do begin to wonder how we ever did it without them.
With practice and learning the limitations of NVG's....using them becomes quite a natural thing.
Combined with FLIR.....the combination of NVG's an FLIR really makes night flying much more safe.
Modern equipment does make night flying far easier, but NVG would be much more tricky if you’re dealing with passengers and or baggage and in any case, never have the luxury of a flying helmet to attach a set of goggles to!
I was privileged enough, right at the end of my RAF time, to be allowed to do some night flying in New Mexico with a certain USAAF military unit. Flying a CH-53 for the very first time, wearing NVG and shortly afterwards being allowed to land in the desert on FLIR was very satisfying. I was also allowed to fly a Blackhawk for the first time, again by night with NVG. The crew then very trustingly allowed me to have a go at air to air refuelling behind a C-130. I’m pleased to say I caught the basket at first attempt and we were able take the fuel we needed. It made me realise how far behind the times the RAF was at that time. Having flown a second career in the civilian world made me realise how much further behind the CAA rules were. However, modern civilian helicopters have “moving map” navigation equipment that I could only have dreamed of during my military career.