Flying Blind

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Samuel O'Brien
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La --  Pilots and navigators on Barksdale Air Force Base, La., earn their living by flying dangerous missions. They use knowledge, speed and precision to put bombs on target whenever needed. Sometimes, a mission requires an extra element of stealth, a difficult order for the lumbering B-52.

Darkness offers extra cover for a bomber looking to sneak in, hit its target and get back home. The same darkness, however, can prevent the crew from seeing the target.

Barksdale's life support office provides crews with night vision goggles to assist in completing difficult nighttime missions. The goggles help pilots and navigators stay in formation with other aircraft, find and bomb targets, and avoid dangerous weather.

"The goggles allow the crews to fly at night or in low light situations," said Tech Sgt. William Carroll, 2 Operations Support Squadron Aircrew Support Section NCO in charge. "If the crew is on a special mission where they don't want to be seen, these allow them to turn out all the lights and still see inside the cockpit and outside the aircraft."

According to Captain Sarah Fortin, 96th Bomb Squadron pilot, as helpful as the goggles may be, the men and women who use them must contend with many issues.

"With an older airframe like the B-52, many compatibility issues arise with standard equipment." she said . "In the B-52, the aircraft's lighting interferes with night vision goggles, so when you use them you have to turn down all the lighting in the aircraft and set up compatible lighting."

Compatible lighting consists of glowsticks or glowpucks which get broken open and mounted around key areas of the jet. Masking tape is also used to cover up bright lights that may interfere with night vision.

The crew also must contend with the issue of having to wear the goggles while operating in a small space.

"Since you're surrounded by the lighting, you have to adjust your seat up high and then lean out past the actual lighting so you get a clearer picture looking outside," said Fortin.

Natural obstacles such as lightning storms or a full moon can also affect the goggles usefulness. When the goggles take in too much light, it can create shadows and optical illusions or prevent crew members from seeing anything at all.

"It picks up the smallest light sources and amplifies them, so lower lighting is best," said Fortin.

All of this is dependent on the goggles being in working condition when they're needed.

"We inspect them every six months to ensure that the NVG is working and nothing is broken," said Carroll. "If anything is wrong with them we can break them down, repair them, put them back together, and rerun the tests."

With all the goggles in working order, B-52 crews are ready to take-off at any time, day or night.

"It's important to have the availability of being able to fly at night and know that everyone can still do their job and continue the mission," said Carroll.