As to the hundreds of night missions in bad weather and the guys do not think they are taking a great risk.....think about what you just said?
Having done just that...maybe not in the hundreds....but certainly more than a few....and did so as a roving relief pilot.
A few of the trips stand out....
Full Harvest moon....about midnight....heading for State College, PA....getting to the point where the valley narrowed down and had but a couple of ridges to cross...expected to see the lights of town up ahead...but no lights...and vis was getting all shimmery...turned on a landing light to discover I was in one heck of a snowstorm. 180 turn and rtb.
Scene call southwest of San Antonio....noticed the air under the street lights looked kinda "smokey"...on the way back....encountered some real fog....maintained visual contact with the surface but really wished I wasn't there. Popping up was not a good choice...might not have been able to get back down.
Night flight to St. Mary's, PA....cross grain to the mountains....no lights on the ground.....thus no horizion on a cold overcast winter night. Violated the rules....but hard to say you cannot go when the sky is clear....and vis unlimited. Sweated gallons on the way back when the moon had set.....but a beautiful flight up.
The common threads to all of these...night, very dark areas, no weather radar, single pilot, VMC/VFR flight to remote locations, very short time to spare for alternates fuel wise.
The use of known and inspected landing zones greatly reduces risk.
Patients die if you do not go....but they have been dying long before the helicopter EMS business started up.
Two pilots and fully IFR equipped aircraft for night flying would be much safer.
People can argue about a lot of things...but until you have trotted around some parts of this country at night with limited visibility.....one cannot begin to understand how "dark" it gets.
The current argument within EMS circles has to do with the use and value of NVG's for night work.
I accept all the arguments for the NVG's....I absolutely love flying with them....to fly at night unaided...frankly terrifies me. The one argument I have against them...is what do you do when you find yourself in the middle of no-where....either have a real complete goggle failure (rare) or fly yourself into weather as when using the MK I eyeball? When you lose vis on goggles....you are in a very real pickle! You now have to conduct an inadvertent IMC drill and do so single pilot in an aircraft without an autopilot to assist you. That is not a healthy situation to be in.
Any thoughts?