Mr. Coyle:
>If I can take Nick's comments one step further - where are the approaches to a 50' hover that were demonstrated far too many years ago?
I guess my question to you is how much actual helicopter flying is done IFR as a percentage of all helicopter flying, let alone needing the capability to a 50’ hover?
An earlier thread went through this a few months ago. It isn’t the IFR portion of the flight that’s killing us, it’s the trying to maintain the VFR part during the day and just running into stuff at night. You also need a more expensive machine for all that capability to do the exact same job we do with single-engine helicopters. I refer to EMS flying.
If a helicopter pilot can see where he’s going regardless of bad decision making concerning weather and darkness, doesn’t that solve the problem?
>I know of one Middle Eastern operator who fitted a mini-low-light TV system to their >machine after they nearly ran into a blacked out rig over the water one night... Not expensive, and very nice insurance.
Why didn’t they just buy themselves some NVGs and be done with it instead of a low light TV system?
>Why doesn't every EMS helicopter have it?
Money is the simple answer. Aircraft useful load another. Regulations a third. The entire weight of two sets of NVGs and aircraft lighting for the AStar I fly is maybe 10 pounds. NVGs less than 10K USD a set. Pound of pound, dollar for dollar, there is no other better safety tool we have right now regarding situational awareness after dark.
>Sorry for the rant, but when are we going to wake up???
When the insurance companies and the government weigh in.
Regards from New Mexico,
Ron Powell