Pocono News Section

Night Vision Goggles Enhance Life Flight Safety

Night Vision Goggles Enhance Life Flight Safety - Friday, May 21, 2010 at 04:09AM EST

Reported by: Kyla Campbell
Friday May 21 2010
0/ 5 rating

In just an instant, your life could change. A slippery road. A distracted driver. A crash. And Life Flight is called in to save your life. But ambulance helicopters have been in accidents of their own, including this one in Pottsville in May 2008. Dozens of crashes in the last decade alone led to government studies on safety.

"Many of the accidents happening around the country were happening in the hours of darkness, or with low visibility in bad weather," said Life Flight's lead pilot, David Conboy.

Studies showed night vision goggles weren't being used. Now, many companies, including Geisinger's Life Flight, have night vision goggles, or NVG.

Conboy feels safer having the technology he used 20 years ago in the military.

"It's an incredible enhancement to safety. It's like a warm blanket, it's a nice feeling knowing you can see what's out there, and what you could potentially run into," added Conboy. "Mind you, we're traveling at 150 miles per hour, it behooves us not to hit anything."

Conboy and the other Life Flight staff compare flying with NVG, to the difference between driving at night, with headlights versus without.

"They amplify ambient light 2,000 to 3,000 times, and so it can be the darkest of nights, and when we flip these down and turn them on, it's literally like daylight, just in shades of green," said Conboy.

If Life Flight is on the move at night, flight nurse Ed Gromelski sometimes wears the NVG. The blue light in the back of the helicopter works with the NVG to give him a better view.

"This gives you a better focus and better lighting, believe it or not, than the white light does under night vision goggles because of the way the system operates," said Gromelski.

He recalled once incident where Life Flight almost landed on what looked like a wire, which could've been a deadly situation.

"I think without the goggles, that could've been an issue," added Gromelski.

The night vision goggles aren't cheap - about $12,000 a set. But Conboy says Life Flight is now fully equipped and state-of-the-art. He wants people to feel safe knowing they or a loved one could count on Life Flight and its technology.

"In snow, in the desert, over water, in the mountains - you name it, we've seen it all," said Conboy. "This is challenging flying, but it can be done, and it can be done safely."

The Helicopter Emergency Medical Service says there are 840 medical helicopters in the United States. And Geisinger's Life Flight helicopters made 2,600 runs last year alone.