Civvy NVG hours
D&C Police have been flying single pilot NVG for approx 12 years. They are inches away from flying to ground level, which has now been agreed and ratified by the CAA. There is only a small contractual delay on the Brightstar (NVG compatible landing light) delivery which is required for flight.
The minimum instructional hours required for flying on NVG is 5 plus test.
There is a further 3 hrs required to go to ground level once the pilot has suitable experience at flying with the NVG which incidentaly is not below 500ft.
Nitesun above 500ft enhances the goggles and acts like a big torch, NVG's are also excellent over built up areas.
It is correct that retro fitting a cockpit to NVG spec that will pass CAA requirements is very expensive, however most new aircraft have the option to have a compatible cockpit from production.
The CAA are not against it, it just hasn't been done before and with something new it is always, slowly slowly catchee monkey.
Hope that helps.