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Podcasts

Welcome to the Foundation’s podcast page. Below you will find interviews with safety experts from around the industry on a range of topics of interest to aviation safety professionals. New podcasts will be added as they are recorded. The views expressed in the podcasts are those of the speakers, and not necessarily those of the Foundation.

If you have a topic that you believe would be of interest to the aviation community, please get in touch with Vice President, Global Programs, Greg Marshall at marshall@flightsafety.org. Interviews can be conducted in-person at our head office or via Skype.

News, Helicopter Safety

ATSB Warns of NVG Limitations

ATSB NVG report coverHelicopter operators must understand “the limitations and risks” of using night vision goggles (NVGs), especially in situations involving reflections or external light sources, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said in a new report on a 2016 event involving the emergency medical services (EMS) crew of a Eurocopter BK117 C-2.

In the Oct. 21, 2016, event, the EMS crew was returning to its home base in Orange, New South Wales, on a night visual flight rules flight after completing an EMS mission. Both the pilot and the air crewmember (ACM) were wearing NVGs.

After takeoff from the Crookwell Medical helicopter landing site, the helicopter unexpectedly encountered low clouds, the ATSB report said, and the pilot began the operator’s procedure for inadvertent entry into instrument meteorological conditions. At one point, she “inadvertently overcorrected the pitch angle to 15 degrees nose down, as well as allowing a slight roll to the left” — action that resulted in a caution alert from the enhanced ground-proximity warning system. The event resulted in no injuries or damage.

The ATSB concluded that the overcorrection probably was a result of “the surprising nature of the event.” The pilot also was distracted by the reflection of the helicopter’s red anti-collision light off a cloud, the report said.

“In response to the distraction, the pilot asked the ACM to switch the light off,” the report said. “However, the ACM was not familiar (or required to be familiar) with the operation of the light switch and inadvertently switched on the strobe light, which exposed the pilot to bright white light reflecting off cloud while wearing NVG. Exactly when the strobe light was switched on, and whether it contributed to the unusual attitude, could not be determined.”

After the event, the operator implemented several safety actions, including issuance of a clarification of its flight planning policy on operations involving instrument flight rules missions and use of a night visual imaging system (NVIS), and development of enhanced training and advisory materials.

“Although NVIS/NVG can significantly improve the quality and quantity of visual information available to pilots at night, the use of such devices also involves risk in some situations,” the ATSB said. “This occurrence highlights the importance of ensuring that operators and pilots have robust processes for deciding when to conduct NVIS operations. It also serves as an example of the limitations and risks of NVIS operations when there are external light sources or reflections, and highlights the benefit of having a predetermined strategy for responding to degraded visibility conditions.”

FSF Editorial Staff. November 6, 2018

News, Safety Recommendation

FAA Warns NVG Pilots Operating Near LED Lights

Because some light-emitting diode (LED) obstruction lights cannot be seen by wearers of night vision goggles (NVGs), crews and aircraft operators must take additional steps to ensure that pilots avoid obstacles marked with LEDs, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says.

Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) 18010, issued earlier in September, cited the recent report by the pilot of an emergency medical services helicopter of a near miss with a tower that had been marked with LED obstruction lighting. The pilot had been wearing NVGs; a crewmember who was not wearing goggles saw the tower and pointed it out to the pilot, the FAA said.

The FAA noted that it had warned in 2009, in SAFO 09007, that some LED lighting systems “fall outside the combined visible and near-infrared spectrum of NVGs and thus will not be visible to flight crew using NVGs.” The 2009 SAFO recommended that pilots be informed of the limitations of LED obstruction lights and that the information be included in pilot NVG training programs.

The new SAFO outlined an additional FAA recommendation calling for air carriers and operators, as well as those governed by the general operating regulations of Federal Aviation Regulations Part 91, incorporate into manuals and standard operating procedures (SOPs) a requirement for “unaided scanning” at low altitudes — that is, scanning by someone not using NVGs.

“This may be accomplished by looking under or to the sides of the NVGs or by briefly placing the NVGs in the stowed (flipped up) position,” the SAFO said. “Manuals/SOPs should include crew resource management procedures for addressing LED-lit obstructions to the pilot flying. For instance, non-flying personnel should make periodic unaided scans and point out the obstruction(s) to the pilot, e.g., ‘LED lit tower, two o’clock.’ It is also recommended that a landing be aborted and/or a climb to a higher altitude be initiated any time the location of an obstruction is not clear to the pilot.”

The SAFO also asked operators and pilots to report encounters with non-NVG compatible obstruction lighting to the Aviation Safety Reporting System at https://asrs.arc.nasa.gov.

FSF Editorial Staff. September 25, 2018