Folks,
This is a very interesting topic and please keep the replies coming. I flew in the US for years and was always interested in the night element of EMS flying. I now fly 24hr SAR on the west coast of Ireland and feel much safer on that than the thought of night RTA type scene work.
The point about profit and government contracts is certainly valid. The only pressure here is that which we put on ourselves. The decisions of the crews (conservative or follhardy) are rarely questioned except by each other and money is not a consideration. The direct pressure on corporate or charter pilots is routinely much more, in my experiences.
The equipment is a factor. Once you have good freezing levels and an IFR machine you have a very good safety net.....particularly if you can couple an ILS. Punch in the autopilot and have the HP monitor it, removes a huge amount of workload.
Two crew is certainly a help(4 even better) provided you are working with and not against each other.
Local knowledge is a huge factor. Having it frees up so much mental capacity.When I think of guys doing relief work for the large EMS companies in the States and moving from site to site I shudder.
So what makes night so dangerous. Obviously fatigue is one. Youre tired. You dont give a **** and you just want your bed. Can be difficult to be disciplined.
Not flying very often doesnt help either. And after hours of sitting around talking ****e, the momentum to go and do something productive can be strong.
We routinely fly into prepared off airport helipads and fueling sites. They are fine because you know them and the terrain.
CFIT accidents rarely happen during the day except in cases of inadvertent IMC. If the wx drops you can safely land anywhere. SAR EMS etc during the day is not an overtly difficult job. BUT!!!!!!When I fly over the countryside at night happily up at MSA ( or below MSA on a known GPS route) I look down and think.... landing on the side of the road down there unaided is simply very dangerous. Flying night visual contact single pilot in a VFR only machine....and then having to land.... Lots of odds aginst you.
This industry learned years ago that you cant fly (safely) low level offshore at night without 2 IFR pilots or a coupler or both. It learned that you cant get down to and hover (safely) over the back of anything small (at night) without a hover height hold.
Ban night scene work, allowing all night flights to be done from known sites would be first on my wish list.... Any comments.....???
Last edited by Decks; 16th Jan 2005 at 09:04.