They/we did at many bars every weekend when I was in college.
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Random Griz Aviation Musings
- Thread starter Griz882
- Start date
hlg6016
A/C Wings Here
And the tossee's where willing participants until do-gooders got involved.
Correct, because we don't have a Midnight Sun. If we did, then I think you're covered. I don't know of anyone who has one locally, though, as everyone has gone to NVGs. Maybe the guys in S. FL do, but they're operating under PAO, so it would be different anyway.
When there is high ambient light, like an urban area, wouldn't an unaided landing with night sun be better than trying to use NVGs? I got the training for the Sheriff's office, but only used them a few times because my helmet didn't have a mount. Those missions were over sparsely or unpopulated areas.
Here is a little bit of history. A friend's father was buds with the Vangrunsvens. In the mid 80s when I was home on shore duty as a recruiter. Jerry Vangrunsven, older brother of designer Dick, flew the prototype RV-6 to Phoenix for a cross country shakedown. He visited my buddy's family and we went flying to get some shots of the new design. This is the very first inflight photo of a RV-6. Crappy photo. Loaded the film and forgot to set the proper film speed.
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The Night Sun was a really good tool - we never got formal training on it beyond "hey, read this" and "don't leave it on after touchdown unless you want to start a fire...". Manipulating the little collective mounted joystick nub and the narrow/wide beam adjustment while flying and talking to ATC and first responders on separate radios took practice and experience.
There were plenty of times I wish I had NVG though - on a super dark night the Night Sun washed out contrast making obstacle identification difficult especially small towers and wires. And then you needed to think ahead on a short flight because I think it needed 5+ minutes of warmup time. I remember getting a flight to an urban GSW scene - like 6 minute flight from the downtown hospital helipad and I could not get the NightSun fired up in time but the scene was a lighted supermarket parking lot.
There were plenty of times I wish I had NVG though - on a super dark night the Night Sun washed out contrast making obstacle identification difficult especially small towers and wires. And then you needed to think ahead on a short flight because I think it needed 5+ minutes of warmup time. I remember getting a flight to an urban GSW scene - like 6 minute flight from the downtown hospital helipad and I could not get the NightSun fired up in time but the scene was a lighted supermarket parking lot.
Chuck gives a good example of where the NVGs are clutch. I haven't flown with a Night Sun, but have used something similar on deployment and it can wash out objects. With NVGs, I can adjust how much gain/de-gain happens by adjusting the search light. I first remember learning that from our squadron Yoda at my first squadron...how you can use the search light to help when landing in a blown out area (using a runway as an example).
Really, finding wires is the big one, but being able to see unlit cell towers comes in handy, as well. Going into winter, my rotation puts me at the New Moon portion of the cycle, so things get dark in the sticks.
It used to be operated by an observer in the right seat. Many years ago, the standard was to have 1 pilot and 2 observers (1 in the right seat and 1 behind the pilot).
Low pass over the camp. Poor photo due to light conditions. It was past sundown getting dark when these guys made it to the party. Lead must have gone down in the chocks
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Pulling off the morning river recce.
Occasionally more "senior" aviators would drop in to our camp.
I think that Stearman spent time in Albuquerque at the old Coronado airfield just north of the city.View attachment 28607
Low pass over the camp. Poor photo due to light conditions. It was past sundown getting dark when these guys made it to the party. Lead must have gone down in the chocks
View attachment 28608
Pulling off the morning river recce.
View attachment 28609
Occasionally more "senior" aviators would drop in to our camp.
Same @ Whidbey. If I'd agreed to another tour at NAVAIRES, which I was already cutting short to go to VAQ-209, they waived flight safety at me. I'm still torn but like all things Navy, I'm sure I would have been screwed out of it.
Trying to close a deal on procuring a C182 to replace from October mishap aircraft that was totaled. Found a C182 S model (1999) for $210K ish - about the best we can find in this market. G1000 2007 or newer models are going for north of $300K!
Will need some avionics update and some mods (Tanis pre-heater) - but so far so good
Planning upgrade for dual G5's for now... I can live with the Garmin 530W - heavy and clunky but perfectly serviceable...
Will need some avionics update and some mods (Tanis pre-heater) - but so far so good
Planning upgrade for dual G5's for now... I can live with the Garmin 530W - heavy and clunky but perfectly serviceable...