LifeFlight Eagle adds Night Vision Goggles – The Difference is Night and Day!

NVG LifeFlight Eagle recently made a very significant investment in the overall safety of its air ambulance program which serves western Missouri and eastern Kansas. The nonprofit program has added the use of Night Vision Goggles (NVG) to greatly enhance pilot visibility during nighttime transports.

NVGs have been used in military helicopter night time operations for decades, and most recently, have been identified as a key safety enhancement for air medical operations.

Currently, NVG’s are not particularly easy to acquire because of high demand for the superior technology that literally allows pilots to see nighttime in a whole new light. With the direct involvement of its air operator, PHI, Inc., LifeFlight Eagle purchased the necessary equipment, cockpit modifications and flight training to operate all five aircraft, including the aircraft dedicated to Children’s Mercy Hospital, with NVG capability. The entire fleet is expected to be fully outfitted by the end of September.

LifeFlight Eagle CEO, Christine Zalar, commented that it was through the efforts and forward thinking of PHI that shortened the timeline for LifeFlight Eagle to benefit from NVG operations. PHI’s strong relationship with Aviation Specialties Unlimited, (ASU), was helpful in advancing the NVG plan. The Idaho-based firm is one of few dealers for FAA-approved night vision systems and FAA-approved orientation and training, cockpit modifications, and equipment maintenance.

“We are really very fortunate to have PHI as our air operator,” said LifeFlight Eagle board chairman, Karen Cox. “Because of their extensive experience with the use of night vision goggles LifeFlight Eagle has been able to quickly step up to meet FAA recommendations that air ambulance programs enhance their level of safety with the use of NVG’s.”

The FAA recommendation comes on the heels of several recent accidents in the air ambulance industry around the nation. Since several of the accidents took place at night the NVG recommendation was expected.

“There is a certain amount of risk with flying,” said Zalar. “Our job is to mitigate the risk as best we can. We do that by looking at what we know we can control such as flight tracking, equipping our aircraft with radar altimeters, providing ongoing training for crews and pilots and working to reduce helicopter shopping which occurs when an agency requests a helicopter, is declined for inclement weather and immediately seeks another air ambulance service to fill the need.”

Zalar says Night Vision Goggles are the logical next step to enhance program safety, and one LifeFlight Eagle is more than happy to comply with.
“We’ve got to respect the risks that come with flight operations. Our plan was to outfit the fleet in 2009, but with PHI’s support, we are able to have the complete fleet and all crew members ready this year before the nights become longer with Fall and Winter. I’m happy to say we’re now ahead of schedule.

Area Aviation Manager, Mark Tovar, and safety officer Marty Pinkham were the first to complete the ground and flight training to begin flying with NVG’s.

“I’ve been flying for a long time and had never worn goggles before, so I was a bit skeptical about their ability to really enhance visibility at night,” says Pinkham.

“Now I am completely sold. The NVG’s will make a significant difference for nighttime flying. It’s literally the difference between night and day.”
While the goggles provide visibility in various hues of green only, nevertheless clarity and perception are identical to daytime flying.

After a full day of ground school where Tovar and Pinkham familiarized themselves with the incredible detail NVG’s offer for visibility in the dark, five hours of nighttime flight training began with ASU’s latest NVG model, ANVIS 9.

“I could actually see fog roll in along the riverbank,” says Pinkham. “Passing clouds were actually casting shadows on the ground. More importantly, we can see telephone poles and wires as clearly as in the day. It is as if you are flying during the day.”

What allows Pinkham to see shadows in the dark is an ever progressing technology that magnifies ambient light. Even when it is dark outside there is still some remnant of light not apparent to the naked eye. NVG’s magnify this light with the use of micro channel plates which are very thin wafer like plates containing 10.6 million fiber optic channels that make night look like day. Distance for visibility is virtually unlimited.

Like Tovar and Pinkham, all pilots and crew members serving the LifeFlight Eagle program will soon receive their training which includes air medical factors, terrain recognition and hands-on time with the goggles.

Previously, night vision technology had limitations such as the inability to deal with bright light that may come into the NVG user’s view. When staring at a light bulb for instance, the wearer’s vision would completely blur out. Today the technology is so advanced in the ANVIS 9 that pilots actually turn up the lighting in their cockpit. Anything, including bright light, may be seen without difficulty.

The goggles provide a forty degree field of view similar to binoculars. They weigh about eighteen ounces so they are relatively light and well balanced when fastened to a flight helmet.

The first LifeFlight Eagle bases equipped with NVG’s are Blue Springs, Missouri, and Clinton, Missouri. The addition represents PHI’s fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth bases to add NVG’s. Currently PHI manages sixty-nine EMS bases. The plan is to equip them all with NVG’s as soon as possible.

“As far as we can tell there is no other air operator in the country flying with as many sets of NVG’s as PHI,” says Chuck Lacelle, Assistant Director for PHI Air Medical Operations. “We value safety both with our traditional customers and our EMS community customers.”

Lacelle says NVG’s have allowed pilots to be more comfortable with their “go, no go” decisions since their ability to see weather in the distance is now 100 miles in the dark.

“We haven’t asked the pilots to do anything differently,” says Lacelle. “Simply adding the NVG’s to the programs we serve makes all the difference in and of itself.”

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