SASless, you posted this on March 24th:
“Ah, WTBF...theres the rub .....most of the operations that are going to NVG's in the States are not IFR programs. They are VFR programs looking for some way to fly VMC with no horizon.”
That post is out of line. I am at a “VFR” program that is trying to move to aided night vision. The effort is not “To fly VMC with no horizon.” We don’t do that, ever.
Further, it is my experience that my fellow professional pilots- generally- are as devoted to safety as we are at my program. If there are “cowboys,” and cowboy operators out there, they are the exception. I, myself, know of one pilot in my AO who exhibits the attitude you claim- one- Despite the fact there area a dozen or so bases in my area, and most of the major players and many independents are active in my A.O.- one cowboy pilot. If you have facts and information otherwise, cite it. Your statement is unfounded. I am specifically calling you on this “.....most of the operations that are going to NVG's in the States are not IFR programs. They are VFR programs looking for some way to fly VMC with no horizon.”
The night issue is there in all aspects of aviation: Fixed and rotary; Single and multiengine; One and two-pilot crews; IFR and VFR. In flight, operating with compromised vision- in this discussion, night flights- increases risk. This hazard is magnified in helicopter operations, and EMS in particular. EMS operates off airport, away from formal aviation facilities. That’s the whole value of the helicopter in the equation. It doesn’t matter what kind of equipment you’re sitting in, or how you arrived at the off-airport landing site proposed. You have to see the obstacles, the weather, the landing zone to control risk. You’re condemning the only effort to solve this issue- universally- and you are wrong. IFR and two engines don’t make you invulnerable. What you don’t see, you can’t know about, in this case. What you don’t know can kill you in my profession, "Clear, blue and twenty-two" with a full moon...
Last edited by Devil 49; 25th Mar 2005 at 15:05.