Original Message

I was a Night Systems Instructor in uncle sams misguided children. Anyone who's done the MAWTS course knows how wayyyyy overboard we mil guys can be as far as useless knowledge. Anyways, in my humble opinion, which is just that, just an opinion, you need to know the indications of an impending IIMC event. You need to know what an objective lens does and what a diopter lens does. You need a very basic understanding of how an I2 tube works. And most importantly, you should develop a mindset of thinking of the NVGs the same way you'd think of one of your other flight instruments. They don't turn night onto day, and they're not a substitute that give you Day VFR capability. There has to be SOME source of illuminance out there for them to work. Beware of shadows. They are just another instrument in your toolbox to make things a little more safe and a little more efficient. I found with the guys and gals I trained, as a rule of thumb, they needed about 50 hours on the goggles before they got past the gee-whiz factor and really got a good feel for flying on NVGs. Again, that's just my opinion and experience.