For anyone considering bringing NVGs into their operations, there are a few things you should know about this much-valued safety tool.

Night-time ops are often considered one of the last uncharted territories in helicopter flight when it comes to safety. But with the growth of enhanced and synthetic vision products (see p.26, this issue) and night vision goggle (NVG) technology truly coming into its own, the night is fast-becoming a much safer time to fly.

The improvements in technology and the growing risks to safe flight actually led to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommending NVGs, as well as terrain awareness warning systems (TAWS), in a 2006 report, suggesting that a number of fatal emergency medical services (EMS) crashes could have been prevented. In fact, in 13 of the 55 cases studied, the NTSB said goggles might have helped pilots take action to prevent accidents.

While the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not required the use of either NVGs or TAWS, it has encouraged companies to voluntarily install them. Many parapublic operators, including such stalwarts as Air Methods, have taken these recommendations to heart and have been retrofitting their fleets.

To help other parapublic agencies get a handle on what they need to make a decision on whether NVGs are right for them, we’ll look at an operator who went through the process, talk to a few of the training companies out there and see what the FAA has to say about what part 135 operators must go through.

Lighting the Darkness
One operator who has seen the safety value of NVGs is the Miami-Dade Fire Department (MDFD) air rescue unit. When you think of Miami-Dade, you probably think Miami Vice, overpopulation and bright city lights. However, Interstate 75 to the west divides Miami and urban sprawl from the virtual night-time black hole known as the Everglades. Miami’s combined urban-rural flying environment made this unit a perfect case study on achieving safer night operations with NVGs.

Only two years ago, a callout over the Everglades would have meant the pilot at the controls of MDFD’s Bell 412 would attempt to remain visual for what they could see — next to nothing on a moonless night — while the safety pilot, or non-flying pilot, provided back up on instruments, to ensure the pilot on the controls didn’t succumb to spatial disorientation and become the next statistic. Nowadays, MDFD's pilots flip down their latest-generation ANVIS-9 (aviator’s night vision imaging system) NVGs, turning blackness into comfortable shades of green. It changes the “pucker factor,” said one of MDFD’s senior pilots, Steven Smiley, a former Vietnam-era pilot, 18 months from retirement.

Said Mike Belle, MDFD’s outspoken flight medic, “Smiley was the most resistant to NVGs, he didn’t think they were needed.”
As soon as instructors from Aviation Specialties Unlimited (ASU) took off into the virtual black hole, with Smiley on goggles, he was overheard to say, “Wow, wow, wow!” While he sees the value and benefit of NVGs, he feels it is too easy now and the flying isn’t as much fun anymore.

The move to NVGs happened almost by accident. In 2006, when the MDFD purchased two additional Bell 412s, and overhauled its existing two, funding from the City of Miami included enough extra to convert to NVG cockpit lighting, purchase 10 sets of ANVIS-9s from ASU and hire ASU to step up its NVG program from ground school to flight training.

The program manager who started Miami-Dade’s NVG program, chief pilot Jim Hunter, said, “I’ve never spoken to any pilot that has been on an NVG program that had anything negative to say about them. Everyone of them I’ve talked to was like, ‘I don’t see how we got along so long without them.’ ”

Some pilots, especially Vietnam-era ones, are often resistant to new equipment, especially NVGs, but much of that stems from experience with far less modern versions. Said Hunter, “Some of the older army guys, they had the first generation, and now we have the [new] ANVIS-9s.”

The Training Providers
When it comes to getting training for NVGs, most agencies have a few options, including new players like Night Flight Concepts, and airframe manufacturer programs like Bell and Eurocopter. Miami-Dade, though, chose to go
with ASU.

ASU got started in the NVG business in 1995, when president Mike Atwood, a former United States Army instructor pilot for 25 years, made a deal with ITT to be the exclusive representative for ITT’s goggles. Since that time, ASU has trained 225 helicopter bases, covering 145 part-135 operators, 895 helicopter pilots and 2,300 flight medics or aircrew members. ASU can instruct operators at their facility, or at its own part 141 NVG school in a Bell 206B-3. It can also provide mission-specific training on NVGs, and will assist operators in hoisting on goggles.

With ASU, clients can get as much or as little as they need in regards to the overall service. Said Atwood, “It’s multi-tiered, generally it will involve the goggles, cockpit modification, the training, and, in Dade County’s case, they got the aircraft equipped that way [NVG compatible lighting], so we didn’t have to modify their aircraft.” The overall costs for Miami-Dade to step up its program was around $150,000, which included 10 sets of goggles and 10 days of training.

Regardless of which provider you choose, the important thing to remember is that the ground school is a critical component. Said Hunter, “I think you really need a dedicated course. You need a ground school. You need the ability to go over the equipment. . . . In addition to that, you need some hours with an instructor to let them tell you
the do’s and don’ts.”

Airframe Manufacturer Options
For some operators, going directly to the airframe manufacturer for their NVG training is the most suitable option. Bell Helicopter was the first part 141 flight school to offer NVG training, and American Eurocopter (AEC) followed suit in 2006. Both have similar programs and can offer NVG training at their home facility or at your base. However, attending an NVG training course at the OEM’s facility allows you to do full, 180-degree autorotations to the ground on NVGs and do emergency procedures training that you wouldn’t normally do. The OEM instructors also have the insurance and certification to do more advanced maneuvers at their facility, but might not be able to offer the same training at your unit’s place of operation if your insurance and operational procedures prohibit it. Training at your base also limits the provider from presenting a 141 school certificate, as they can’t use your aircraft on their 141 certification.

Bell’s mission training or Professional Pilot Program (P3) instructs units in mission execution using NVGs and incorporates emergency procedures during high-risk scenarios such as law enforcement in low-level, high-speed pursuit, or electronic news gathering with high-altitude, low-speed flight. Bell trains just about everyone, and can modify its course to meet specific needs. In the case of the FBI’s hostage rescue unit, Bell modified P3 to meet the FBI’s mission needs and did a day and night fast-rope course. Said Gary Osterberg, Bell’s assistant chief pilot for NVGs, “Where we’re going in the future, there’s a number of things we can really bring to the customer’s table that nobody else will even touch.”

Leading AEC’s NVG training program is Paul Osterman, a 20-year Army man who has been flying on goggles since 1981. Said Osterman, “I became a believer in goggles from the very beginning, they’re absolutely necessary for safe night flight.” AEC trains pilots in the EC 120, AS 350B2 and B3 at its facility in Grand Prairie, Texas, and has an operational NVG-compatible, level B flight simulator on its way to certification which will cut training costs while maintaining safety. Said Osterman; “I recently flew four hours in it, and found it to be extremely realistic.”

New People, New Innovations
Among the new training companies on the market is the aforementioned Night Flight Concepts (NFC), located at Palm Beach Helicopter’s facility in West Palm Beach, Fla. NFC provides a complete package of services, including cockpit modifications, ground school and flight training. The company will also soon be signed off by the FAA to meet the part 141 flight school designation.

NFC’s president and CEO, Adam Aldous, who has 15 years of Army aviation experience, is also currently flying CH-47 Chinooks with the Florida National Guard, where he plays an integral role in its NVG training program.

The company offers NVG flight training in its Robinson R44 (leased from Palm Beach Helicopters), the only one
of its kind with NVG cockpit lighting, or a Bell 206, but also has instructors qualified to train the customer in their own aircraft.

When it comes to ground school training, NFC offers week-long, twice-monthly training classes, covering initial and transition training, to instructor training, in either West Palm Beach or directly at the operator’s base. If you choose NFC’s facilities, you’ll get to use the Virtual Terrain Board (VTB) developed by Night Readiness — something no one other civilian school can currently offer.

Students view the VTB through NVGs and see what it’s actually like to fly on goggles, even viewing the effects of shadowing, light halos, and high and low contrast areas, with the ability to change views and perspectives with a remote Play Station controller. It also demonstrates to students the benefits and limitations of goggles, and the need to understand their own limitations. Said Aldous, “NVGs are an additional skill you need to learn. Understanding the limitations and capabilities are paramount before you go out and use them.”

FAA and Part 135 Operators
Depending on your parapublic mission, there is one key thing to keep in mind. There is a distinct difference between public-use operators (police and fire) and part 135 operators (EMS). The public use units do not have the level of limitations that EMS operators do.

Part 135 operators must purchase the goggles, modify their cockpits and submit a training program for anyone who will use them, including pilots and flight crew, and submit an NVG maintenance program to the FAA for approval. Once that’s done, an FAA principle operations inspector (POI) is assigned to oversee things. The operator must get authorization from the POI to conduct NVG operations, where they receive an operations specification from the FAA. Said, Larry Buehler, the FAA’s authority on part 135 NVG operations, “We use operations specifications to clarify or amplify a rule. The reason is, we try to make our rules performance based. . . . It is the operations specification which tailors or meets his [the operator's] needs to do things slightly differently than the operators next to it.”

STAR (Shock Trauma Air Rescue) Flight of Austin, Texas, met the initial FAA requirements for its NVG program and had AEC do the ground and flight training. Subsequently, its director of aviation, Willy Culberson, a former Army pilot with previous goggle experience, became NVG-instructor qualified and was checked out by the FAA. This allowed AEC to do the initial ground and flight training and Culberson to sign off his pilots’ logbooks with their final check flights. Once the training was completed, the FAA flew a check ride with each pilot and now conducts annual check rides to ensure proficiency. Once STAR pulls in more pilots, Culberson will have one of his flyers become approved by the FAA to give NVG check rides. Said Culberson, “One of the drawbacks we are facing is the lack of NVG instructors with the FAA for annual evaluations.”

Flying on Goggles
If you’ve never flown on goggles before, it is a unique experience. Said Aldous, “One of the most difficult parts is developing a scan, where, with goggles, you have to move your head — the goggles only have a 40-degree field of view. If you don’t move your head, you’re not going to see everything that’s out there and not just outside the aircraft, as you need to develop an instrument scan under the NVGs as well.”

Some misperceptions students have are that you have to look through the goggles to see the instruments. The cockpit modifications just prevent traditional lighting from interfering with the goggles, you have to look under them to see the instruments. Landing on goggles is quite a bit different too. You can see everything, albeit it’s like flying with binoculars strapped to your head, but it’s much better than the alternative, flying in blackness. Said Michael Berlin, one of NFC’s students, “Going from unaided night to night vision, I’d rather fly on NVGs all the time.” Berlin is working on his commercial and instrument certificate, and took NFC’s NVG course to increase his night-time awareness and flight capabilities.

Said Aldous regarding new students taking his course, “The curriculum they sit through and the experience they get in the aircraft… it makes them a better pilot overall. It makes them feel safer operating the aircraft at night-time.”

Finding the time and money to step up your NVG program is probably the most challenging endeavor when it comes to goggles. But, whatever effort it takes, it’s worth it — there is no other technology that removes as much of the hesitation from night-time flying.

Lieut. Bergan is a safety officer with the U.S. Coast Guard at Air Station Miami, where he flies the HH-65 Dolphin. He graduated from the navy’s flight school in 2001, but also holds a degree in mechanical engineering and is currently working toward his masters in aeronautical sciences.

*The views expressed herein are those of the author and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the commandant or of the U.S. Coast Guard.