NVT

Night Vision Training

AMST has developed a comprehensive NVG training course that has both theoretical and practical elements

Needs

‘To own the night’

Background

Night operations have always been a demanding task and of course not without significant risk. For over 50 years, the military have sought to exploit this capability and ‘own the night’. From the 1950’s, helicopter operations were only possible at 500 ft or above and required comprehensive flight briefing to avoid hazards.
Aircraft separation during formation had to be achieved in time and space and this reduced operational effectiveness and required comprehensive planning and briefing.
The increased use of NVGs in the 1970’s by the military started a new area of military capabilities for both transport and helicopter aircrew. This has come at a cost in both aircraft losses and fatalities.
In the early days, training was done locally ad hoc and lacked structure. Risks were not clearly identified and operators tended to treat night operations as if it were daytime, which a fundamentally flawed philosophy.

Particular risks:

NATO produced STANAG 7147 that lays down the minimum standard for basic NVG familiarisation.

Needs are:

To learn specific flight safety issue and recognise that NVGs do not ‘turn night into day’
To learn that aggressive head movements are essential for good situational awareness but can lead to SD
To learn that crew coordination is vital for a safe flight
To maintain a good relationship between head-up display and outside world
To learn handling of blinding effects

Solution

A comprehensive night vision training course

AMST offers a comprehensive NVT course that satisfies in detail the requirements of NATO STANAG 7147. The training examines in detail operational accidents and the difficulties encountered in conducting operations in extreme low light environments with degraded visual cues. The NVG solution still has a spatial disorientation component.

Specific topics include:

The principles of image intensification – form and function
Visual physiology – visual deficit and countermeasures
Vision in flight
The operating environment
Crew Resource Management – the conflict
Accident prevention – case studies
Human factors – risk mitigation

The practical elements include:

This comprehensive syllabus based training structure has been delivered to numerous students from different countries and cultures with positive feedback.

Benefits

Improves flight safety – reduces risk

The structure of the NVG course ensures that all aircrews receive identical training. This includes rear crewmembers and door gunners. This complete solution ensures that the ‘team’ can clearly identify the limitations that all crew members face.
Non-pilot aircrew are made fully aware of the visual limitations that pilots face when flying on NVGs. This combined approach enables effective Crew Resource Management (CRM) for mission cohesiveness.
The flight safety benefits are clearly iterated during the training with state of art equipment and a ‘joined up’ approach to training.
Explanation and demonstration of the basic visual physiology and physical principles of Night Vision (NV) and Night Vision Goggles (NVGs).
Explanation of human factors and associated risks
Demonstration of the advantages and limitations of image intensifiers
To learn the correct set-up, function of NVGs and use of NVGs under simulated operational conditions.

References

AMST NVT was provided to the following customers

NVT – Venezuela

Fixed wing and rotary wing pilots from Venezuela attended the NVT in the years 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2012.

NVT – Sweden

Fixed wing and rotary wing pilots from Sweden attended the NVT in the years 2007 and 2010.