It is a late fall afternoon, dusk is slowly setting in at Balice airport. The C-295M CASA crew of the 8th Airlift Base is preparing for a night mission. Polska Zbrojna journalists have a unique opportunity to accompany them.

The soldiers are to fly towards Nowy Targ using night vision, drop their cargo over a designated drop zone and safely return to base. “The flight must be covert, so the cockpit, deck, and external lights will be turned off. Only NVG (night-vision goggles) light will be on,” explains a flight engineer from the base (due to the specific character of executed tasks we do not disclose the names of crew members).

Night-vision transport flights, which include a drop or landing on unpaved roads, are the most difficult element in the process of training transport aircraft crews. “This is the highest level of combat readiness for military transport pilots,” assesses Col (Pil) Sławomir Byliniak, commander of the 8th Airlift Base, where soldiers are trained to perform such tasks. The obtained skills are used, among other things, during covert operations involving transfer of troops or supplies. The aircraft are invisible from the ground, also for air defense systems, which makes the operations safer.

To Know More

Upon receiving an order from their commander, the soldiers collect their high-altitude rescue equipment, helmets and night-vision goggles. The crew are seven people with two pilots, a flight engineer and a loadmaster who is responsible for the cargo. The drop will be performed by two special forces soldiers. All crew members are equipped with night-vision goggles, except for one of the special forces soldiers, as he must clearly see the color of lighting, which is the signal for the drop. “Night-vision goggles make all colors of lights look the same – they’re all green,” explains one of the soldiers. Someone has to give the final signal for action.

Before the flight, the NVGs are checked and adjusted in a special darkened chamber. Then, the soldiers attend a briefing with special forces troops who are going to perform the drop of the prepared cargo from 400 m, so that it lands in a specific point.

After the briefing, the pilots analyze the flight plan, paying particular attention to terrain obstacles, masts, high-voltage poles, chimneys. They discuss potential emergency situations and check the weather forecast. “Visibility 10 km. At the end of the flight, it may be limited to 6 km due to fog. Northeast wind at speeds of up to 6 m/s. In the mountains, possible light to moderate turbulence. Temperature 13°C,” reports the meteorologist. After that, the crew make their way to the aircraft. On the tarmac, the technicians perform a standard pre-flight inspection of the aircraft.

Just Like War

Everything is ready for takeoff. The crew have taken their places, the engines are running, final remarks and instructions are given. Finally, the machine starts to move down the runway and soon takes off, heading for Nowy Targ. At the beginning of the flight, the red lighting is still on, as usual on such flights. However, all crew members are already wearing night vision goggles. A few moments after takeoff, the flight engineer pushes a single button and switches all the lighting to NVG mode.

Initially, city lights can still be seen through the window, but they fade away the further we move away from Kraków. We can hear the roar of the engines. There is a little turbulence, which quickly subsides. It is completely dark on board. Only faint outlines of sitting figures are visible. However, when I put on night-vision goggles myself, things change dramatically. Everything becomes green. Lighter elements, such as human skin, reflect the light and enhance the image. I can clearly see the faces, even the expressions, as well as all the equipment on board. We are flying to our destination where the cargo is to be dropped.

“We are simulating a wartime approach. We fly at a low altitude without lights, covertly, to a designated point, we do the drop and leave,” explains a pilot of the 8th Airlift Base, the crew commander, pointing out that the machine is invisible from the ground. The crew, on the other hand, have a full view of the terrain thanks to the NVG system. The minimum flight altitude during this exercise is 400 m above ground. During the drop, CASA descends to as low as 150 m, but the commander emphasizes that this is very low. “You must watch out for all sorts of obstacles – masts, chimneys, power lines, hills. In night vision we can’t see red or white lights, only shapes, so from time to time we must lift our goggles to verify what we see,” he remarks, pointing to the specific character of such flights.

Visibility in goggles is affected by moonlight and starlight. It is worse over big cities, where the lights distort the image. “In such situations, we see a big white spot,” says one of the soldiers and adds that during a night-vision flight, the darker it is, the better. Another challenge while wearing the goggles is the limited field of vision and the shift from looking into the distance in goggles to looking at the cockpit, which is near. One also has to be careful within the small space of the cockpit not to hit anything with the protruding goggles.

Nocturnal Animals

This type of mission is extremely demanding on the human body. The helmet with night-vision equipment is heavy and strains the cervical spine. There is a lot of noise and vibrations around. “On top of that, the mission requires full focus, constant observation of terrain, watching out for obstacles. There is no time to rest, so this kind of exercise should not last longer than four hours – this is the amount of time in which the body is able to perform such a task safely,” emphasize the soldiers.

In order to prepare for a mission of this kind, crew members must change their biological clocks. For at least two days, they quiet down during the day and become active at night, to help the body adjust, enable it to focus and change perception, and to prepare their eyes for a different kind of work. “We have to become nocturnal animals,” laughs one of the soldiers.

Mission Accomplished

The aircraft is approaching the drop point. Ten minutes before the drop, the machine slows down. Six minutes to the drop – the crew are preparing to execute the task. The special forces soldiers are instructed by the loadmaster who secures the cargo on board. “I am the pilot’s eyes in this part of the aircraft. I transmit information from the commander to other crew members,” he explains. When the drop is two minutes away, the ramp is opened. The special operations troops responsible for the cargo drop approach the edge of the ramp and the loadmaster retreats into the cabin to his place. One minute to the drop – the operators are on standby, they keep looking at the light above the ramp. A change of color will be the signal to push the cargo outside. The red light finally switches to green, a bell rings, and the cargo is dropped.

After that, the crew moves away from the ramp, which is then closed. The engines accelerate, and the aircraft flies towards the base. Mission accomplished. This time everything went according to plan, but it is not always the case. The crew face a lot of obstacles – changeable weather, turbulence, GPS interference. The latter is a frequent problem recently. When it happens, we implement the so-called ‘furniture-oriented flight,’ which means that we navigate according to distinctive landmarks, such as forests, buildings, roads or rivers. In recent weeks, owls hunting in the dark have become an obstacle, hitting the aircraft twice. The mission had to be aborted immediately, the machine brought down to the ground and inspected for possible damage.

Combat Missions

During this kind of night exercises, the soldiers prepare for combat missions – for example on NATO’s eastern flank or, as it has been done in the past, for the Polish military contingent’s operations in Syria. The 8th Airlift Base also trains abroad, for instance during allied joint exercises. Recently, a similar night flight and landing was performed in Estonia, near Tallin. Approximately 700 paratroopers were dropped. “Soldiers operating on the ground said that they didn’t see anything. They heard the roar of engines for a moment, and then paratroopers suddenly appeared on the training ground,” says the commander of the 8th Airlift Base, and recalls the year 2016, when a landing on an unpaved runway in Senegal, Africa, was performed as part of Exercise Flintlock. That, he says, was the darkest place in which he had ever personally landed an aircraft. “A tight network of power lines and birds feeding at night posed the greatest challenge and danger,” recalls Col (Pil) Sławomir Byliniak.

Transport flights carried out at night are one of the major challenges of military aviation and the most difficult element of pilot and crew training. The current geopolitical situation forces the military to intensify such exercises in order to be ready for action if need be.