Helicoptorial

Night Fright II - Another Dimension

by Chuck Meager

Chuck Meager here. It's been four days, eight hours and 27 minutes since my last flight. When I close my eyes, I see the world from the view of my helicopter. When I dream, I dream that I'm a bird landing to the branch of a tree. I decided that I needed professional help. So I went to a psychologist and told her my problem. She asked if I was eating worms yet. I said that I wasn't that kind of guy. I explained the exhilaration of flying helicopters and that I just can't get enough. That I become unbearable to live with if I don't fly. She seemed to listen intently, taking notes all the while. She became fascinated with the depth of my emotion for flying. What really peaked her curiosity was how I could miss flying at night with Night Vision Goggles (NVG's).

"Miss it! That was the most fun and challenging flying that I've ever done!"

Imagine a world of green where your peripheral vision is only 40 degrees. You had to stay mentally alert maintaining a constant scan, keeping in mind where things were that you couldn't see. Trees, rocks, other aircraft all out of sight, but just to your side. What a rush. You had to keep situational awareness at it's peak. To relax meant the possibility of a mishap. Every once in a while I would look underneath the goggles to not see what was out there. Everything was black. Cool.

After that outburst, she was sure that I needed more visits. So I started going to her office twice a month. Near the end of each session the topic always turned to NVG's. "Weren't they heavy just hanging off your helmet in front of your face?", she asked. "Sure they could be," I said, "but you can also put a counter weight on the back of the helmet to balance everything out. And for me, when I was flying with them on, the thrill of seeing everything in green almost as good as I could see in the daytime, was so great that I sometimes forgot that I had them on."

"Did you ever get disoriented and lose track of what the aircraft was doing?"

"Sure, sometimes. But I could always look at the instruments real quick to keep things in perspective."

"But how could you see what the instruments were telling you with goggles in front of you? Don't you have to adjust the focus?"

"All I had to do was look underneath the goggles with normal vision and see the illuminated instruments. Plus there was always someone else in the other seat to help me with my orientation."

Session after session we talked about my preoccupation with flying helicopters. She helped me to understand the elation that I feel. The only problem is that the dreams have not gone away. I was still dreaming about being a bird, living completely in three dimensions. Dreaming of having an instinct for how the winds would affect my landings and takeoffs.

The other day at the FBO I saw my psychologist climb in to a 500 with a flight instructor. I called her office to verify my next appointment but the receptionist said that she doesn't work there anymore, and that another doctor had agreed to pick up my case. Last I heard she was flying helicopters in Alaska for some oil company. Apparently, she had used all the money she got from our sessions to help finance her flight lessons.

What I learned from my experience is to accept who I am and that my vision is powerful. There's no way I'm going to keep that appointment with the new doctor. I need to keep my vision to myself so others won't invade my air ways.

Talk amongst yourselves for next month's topic: Aero-Dry-Namics

You can send your feedback and input to Chuck at chuckm@aero.com

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