Thanks Helmet fire and sunnywa. Good gen. Agree totally with the crewman requirement for some level of lighting (direct or flood) and that the SX16 will not be ideal for winching - but as a search tool to get to the 'survivor' - unbeatable. I guess the dichotomy is that if sustained hover heights with limited references above 100' are an issue on the A109 45OW search light, that task becomes more complex. Currently acquiring fleet of A109's and have not been able to spec SX16 (as not primary SAR asset). Will just have to be happy with the 4th axis and auto hover functions.
Have any of you chaps used or thought about using, helmet mounted eye protection (visor or specs) for NVG ops. Recall doing trials back in the 90's with clip-on arrangements but they tended to fog up and imposed a longer than perferred eye relief distance......they didn't pass the trial. To date I understand only one major helmet manufacturer offers a visor able to be used with NVG.
Clearly a tension between the balance of occupational safety and health and operator preference exists. I've always wondered at what point the longer eye relief distance would contribute to the sub-optimal outcome that required the protection in the first place?