NVG's
I have done my fair share of unaided deck landings at night which can be interesting to say the least, especially when trying to transition from things that seem to moving in weird sequences (the bow wake on a pitching/heaving/rolling ship for one) to pitch black ocean and sky.
Having flown with NVG's the last 4 years on EMS, I believe that the benefit of aided flight under NVG's is the single biggest safety improvement made for night flight period. It would have to be a very very dark night over the ocean for the NVG's not to provide some benefit and as for approaching a vessel, you would have numerous advantages for arrival, departure and transition with just a modicum of common sense on vessel lighting conditions.
As one poster mentioned the regulatory authorities need to get up to speed on the benefits of modern NVG reliability and use. But that's our job I suppose. Once you use NVG's, you forever wonder what you were doing out there in the dark of night before, as you flip them up and realize that the perfectly lighted panorama before you simply disappears into the void of near nothingness. Note: general rule is not to fly aided where you would't fly unaided or without appropriate skills, equipment and proficiency.
Last edited by crunchingnumbers; 14th Oct 2015 at 14:32.