Just Curious

[Lawreston]

If a Life Flight helicopter flies a mission into a hospital in the dark of night, and in the middle of the forested trees, is this what the pilot would see?
(Mid Coast Hospital, Brunswick, Maine)
Photo © by Lawreston 08/27/2015, but not under those conditions.

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[Lawreston]

I received the following response from my friend Ron Farr. Ron did thousands of hours in helicopter flights -- as Bath Iron Works PHOTOGRAPHER. He wrote: "I would have an idea. I live by St. Mary's[Hospital] but I hear the Helicopter at night in the dark going to CMMC[Central Maine Medical Center] and they have the lights of what's at the hospital and they fly by the instruments in their helo and from what they can see on their own. They have to fly as long as they can see and the weather has to agree for the helicopter to be in flight. You'll remember that the weather having been a factor in the Echo helicopter flight that ended his career...."

HR

 

[Velocity173]

Well I don't know of many air ambulance providers not using NVGs these days. 10 years ago everyone was trying to get night unaided hours to get EMS jobs, now they want NVG time. So, if that's the case it would look like this to the pilot.

http://youtu.be/gtdxj_6OUcs

If the pilot flipped up their goggles, which could very well happen, you probably wouldn't get that much clarity and color as in your pic. Hard to tell from your pic how well that area is lit with light poles. Pad would have lights around it, whether they be green, red, white, amber. We see all types. Plus moon vs no moon can make a huge difference aided or unaided.

What your friend is getting at is maintaining visual contact with the ground at night. That's a Part 135 helo requirement. Lights on the ground will suffice but when flying through the mountains at night, NVGs are an immense help. He also mentioned flying on instruments. That hospital may very well have a IAP going to the hospital. A few are public but most are private that the air ambulance program paid for. Some of the private ones you can even bring up on your GPS. Getting the actual plate to fly it would be a problem.