When Air Care makes a late-night flight across the darkness of the rural Ozarks, a new technology is helping pilots and crew have a clear view of the terrain below.
In January, Air Care added three sets of night-vision goggles to the arsenal of tools crews use to reach patients across the region. Air Care is now among the first flight teams in Missouri to adopt the technology.
“We have some dark holes in some of the rural counties surrounding Springfield,” says Susan Crum, director of Air Care. “This helps pilots visualize changes in terrain, trees and the obstacles near a landing site.”
The assistance from night-vision goggles is key to Air Care’s most important goal: safety for patients and crews.
“This may save a crew and it may save an aircraft,” Crum says.
Flight crews spent two days training on the new technology in December, and by January, all nighttime flights were assisted by night vision. For pilots and crews, the goggles are revealing surprising details in what is usually an inky blackness below. As they fly routes they’ve traveled hundreds of times before, they’re able to see back yards and bodies of water in places that were black before.
“Everything is flooded with light – once you see it, it’s kinda scary we did without goggles for all these years,” says flight paramedic Frank Perez. In darkness at midnight, the shadow of the helicopter is visible on the ground below. “And that was on a moonless night – a little moonlight is like daylight with these.”
Those details mean enhanced safety for the crew, whether they’re in flight or landing at a remote site.
Crum says the technology doesn’t change the weather decisions the crew makes, but the goggles enhance what searchlights can do and make night flying safer.
The technology has seen military use for decades and is now being recognized as an important safety feature for medical flight teams. Air Methods, the Denver company Air Care contracts with, has set a goal of having all of their helicopters equipped with night vision within two years. Air Care’s helicopter was designed to be night vision ready with special instrument and interior lighting that doesn’t interfere with the goggles. Ongoing military conflicts, however, have reduced the supply of goggles available for non-military applications.
The goggles amplify ambient light, including light beyond the spectrum of what the naked eye can see, to create a detailed image in the greenish hue familiar to most of us from televised war footage. The images are projected on tiny screens that sit inches from the user’s eyes.
The field of vision is about the same as that of a pair of binoculars and depth perception is minimal. The view, though, is unquestionably impressive. From the helipad at Cox South, one can easily read street signs and see far-away buildings normally shrouded in darkness. Even in spots that are completely dark, such as the back of the helicopter, the goggles make everything visible.
Crew members say no demonstration compares to flying through the night sky with the goggles flipped down.
“Just the contrast, the detail and the clarity are amazing,” says flight nurse Jim Lawrence. “You think you can see stars normally, but with the naked eye we’re seeing a tenth or even less of what’s out there.
“It’s like a sunset; a description or a picture of it isn’t adequate. You really have to experience it.”
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