Learning To Fly with Night-vision Goggles at Aviation Specialties Unlimited | Aviation International News

Learning To Fly with Night-vision Goggles

Training is essential when learning to fly with NVG at night

Aviation Specialties Unlimited and Matt Thurber nigh flying — Aviation Specialties Unlimited director of operations Tony Tsantles starting up the company Bell 505 for a night-vision goggles training session with AIN editor-in-chief Matt Thurber flying right seat. © ASU

By Matt Thurber • Editor-in-Chief

August 1, 2024

A variety of companies offer pilots training to fly with night-vision goggles (NVG), but one is also the pioneer of developing NVG for the civil aviation market and manufactures and maintains these precision optical-electronic devices: Aviation Specialties Unlimited (ASU). AIN visited ASU recently at its Boise, Idaho headquarters to learn more about NVG, including participating in a training class and flying ASU’s Bell 505 at night while wearing NVG.

NVG have seen dramatic improvements since military helicopter pilots first began flying with them in the 1960s. Now most medevac operations use NVG during night operations, and they are penetrating the fixed-wing market, such as for night agricultural flying and other types of operations with minimal ambient lighting. ASU offers training in its Bell 505 and a Cessna 206 equipped for NVG operations and says it is the only company offering fixed-wing NVG training. ASU also certifies and installs the required NVG-compatible lighting and avionics filters on airplanes and helicopters.

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