In 1998 I was operating an S61 SAR-cab out of Shannon with DF as my copilot. We were called out in the middle of a dark and horrid night to a Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands in Galway Bay. There was a man with chest injuries in need of immediate hospitalisation so we planned and conducted a low level landfall in weather that was absolutely on the limits. The run in towards the landing site beside the harbour was extremely difficult and was made even more difficult because the nearby lighthouse was still operating. Its fingers of light rotated beneath us creating a painful optical illusion that very nearly had me abandoning the approach. Thanks to the coolness of my colleagues we completed the mission without incident but ever since then I have often wondered about NVGs. Would they have made the mission safer? Would they have delivered the goods in close proximity of the lighthouse? Perhaps someone with actual NVG experience can enlighten me.
G.