The darker the better

Transport flights utilizing night vision, during which landings or landings on unhardened roads are the most hard in the process of training crews of transport aircraft. “This is the highest level of combat preparation for military transport pilots,” says Colonel Pił. Sławomir Bylik, 8th BLTr commander, where soldiers are trained for specified tasks. These skills are used, among others, in secret operations involving the transfer of troops or supplies. The machines are invisible from the ground besides for anti-aircraft defense, so action can be conducted safer.

Implementation: Anita Blinkiewicz, Paweł Sobkowicz

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After listening to the commanding officer's orders, soldiers receive equipment for high-level rescue, helmets and night imagination goggles. As for the crew, there will be 7 people – including 2 pilots, an onboard engineer and a loadmaster liable for the cargo. The landing organization will be performed by 2 peculiar troops. All people on board have night imagination goggles, but for 1 of the specialists. This will let him to see precisely the colour of the lighting, which is the signal for the drop. – In night imagination goggles all the colors of the lights look the same – they are green – explains 1 of the soldiers. individual has to give the final signal.

The goggles are checked and tuned in a peculiar darkened chamber before the flight. The soldiers then go to the briefing with peculiar troops, who during the exercise will execute a drop of the prepared burden from 400 m so that it hits a circumstantial point.

After check-in, pilots analyse the flight plan, pay peculiar attention to field obstacles, masts, high-voltage poles, chimneys. They discuss possible emergencies. They besides check the weather. - Visibility 10 km. At the end of the flight through fog can be limited to 6 km. North-east wind at a velocity of up to 6 in. Weak to average turbulence may happen in the mountains. Temperature 13°C – reported by a meteorologist. The crew then heads for the plane. On the board, technicians check the aircraft as standard before the flight.

Like a war.

Everything is ready to take off. The crew took their seats. Engines are working. Last remarks and tips are coming in. Eventually, the device moves on the runway, and after a while it rises in the wind, heading towards the fresh Market. On board at first there is still, as usual on specified flights, red lighting. But all crew members have night imagination goggles in sight. A fewer moments after take-off, the onboard engineer switches the aircraft lighting to the NVG operating mode with 1 button.

The visibility of the goggles is affected by moonlight illumination, as well as starlight. It worsens over large cities whose lighting impairs the perception of the image. Fig. Paweł Sobkowicz

Initially you can see the lights of the city, but slowly, as we decision distant from Krakow, and they disappear. We hear engine noise. There's turbulence, but then they stop. It's completely black on board. You can see the delicate outlines of the sitting characters. But erstwhile I wear goggles, the image changes dramatically. Everything becomes green. Brighter elements, like human skin, reflect light, strengthening the image. You can clearly see the faces, even the mines, and all the elements of the aircraft's equipment. We're on our way to the target, which is where the drop is to take place. We're simulating a warlike approach. We are flying at a tiny tallness without lights, secretly, to a designated point, we are taking a drop and leaving – explains the pilot from 8 BLTr, the crew commander, and emphasizes that the device is not visible from the ground at all. The crew, thanks to the NVG system, has a full field imagery. The minimum flight altitude for this exercise is 400 m above ground. During the CASA discharge it descends to 150 m, but as the commander emphasizes, it is already very low. – We must then be careful about all kinds of obstacles – masts, chimneys, power lines, elevations. In the night vision, we do not see red or white lights, only shapes, so all now and then we gotta look from under the glasses to verify the image around – he tells about the specificity of specified flights.

The visibility of the goggles is affected by moonlight illumination, as well as starlight. It worsens over large cities whose lighting impairs the perception of the image. “Then we see a white spot,” says the soldier, and adds that erstwhile flying in the night imagination the darker, the better. The challenge is to limit the field of sight by goggles and to decision sight from the goggles through which you look at the cockpit, which is close. In addition, you should be careful, due to the fact that goggles falling distant from the helmet in the tiny space of the pilot's compartment can hit various elements.

Night animals

Such a task is simply a immense effort for the body. The night imagination equipment along with the helmet is heavy, which weighs the cervical section of the spine. There's sound all around, vibrations are very noticeable. – Plus full focus, continuous reflection of the area, search for obstacles. There is no time to rest, so specified exercises should take up to 4 hours – at that time the body is able to carry out the task safely – the soldiers emphasize.

Photo by Anita Blinkiewicz

That's why an aviator has to change his biological clock in preparation. For at least 2 days, it calms down during the day and activates at night to aid the body move, let focus and change perception, and besides prepare eyes for another kind of work. “We must become night animals,” laughs 1 of the soldiers.

Mission accomplished

The plane is approaching the drop. 10 minutes before the landing, the device slows down. Six minutes to drop – on board the crew prepare to execute the task. Specialists are instructed by a loadmaster who secures the cargo on board. I'm the pilot's eyes in this part of the machine. I'm giving the commander another information," he explains. erstwhile 2 minutes stay until the drop, the ramp opens. The specialists liable for the cargo landing approach its edge, and the loadmaster retreats into his seat into the cabin. 1 minute to drop – operators are ready, constantly watching the light over the ramp. Change of colour will be a signal to push the charge out. It's burning red all the time. Finally, a green flare. There's besides a bell, and there's a drop of cargo.

After all, the crew retreats to the inside of the machine. The ramp is closed. Engines are accelerating. The aircraft is heading for the base. Mission accomplished. This time everything went as planned. But it's not always like that. The crew has many threats – variable weather, turbulence, GPS signal interference. It's a very common problem lately. erstwhile this happens, we implement the alleged flight on furniture, that is, in navigation we follow the characteristic landmarks specified as forests, buildings, roads or rivers. In fresh weeks, owls preying in the dark, which hit the plane twice, have become an obstacle. The action had to be stopped immediately, the device had to be brought to the ground and reviewed.

Combat tasks

During this kind of night exercises, soldiers prepare for combat tasks – for example on the east flank of NATO or, as in the past, to operate the Polish military contingent in Syria. 8 Transport Air Base He besides trains outside the country, for example in allied exercises. Recently, a akin night flight and landing took place in Estonia close Tallinn. About 700 jumpers were dropped. – Soldiers operating on the ground told that nothing was visible. For a minute they heard machines growling, after which paratroopers appeared on the camp," says the commander of the 8th BLTR and recalls 2016, erstwhile the Flintlock exercise performed, among others, a landing on an unhardened runway in Senegal, Africa. As he recalls, it was the darkest place he'd always personally planted a machine. “A large number of power lines and birds feeding at night were the biggest challenges and threats,” said Colonel Pil. Sławomir Byliak.

Transport flights performed in night conditions are 1 of the crucial challenges of military aviation and the most hard component of pilot training and the full crew. The current geopolitical situation forces the military to intensify specified exercises to be ready to act if necessary.