Operating drone at night

A special industry-wide exemption known as 01/17 exists to permit holders of a Remote Operator Certificate(ReOC) to operate at night. Officially known as Night Visual Line of Sight (NVLOS), the Operations Manual associated with a ReOC contains the procedures describing how to operate NVLOS. Drone operations without a Remote Operator Certificate are prohibited.

As an industry-wide exemption, the procedures in the Operations Manual are similar for all Remote Operator Certificate holders, which detail standard operating procedures and the training requirements for Remote Pilots. The Chief Remote Pilot has a set of “golden wings” that allow them to fly Night Visual Line of Sight (NVLOS) without the need for any formal training. Despite the lack of requirement to participate in training, training is a key risk mitigator, and it is a good idea to gain the support of someone who has conducted NVLOS operations before. In addition, the Chief Remote Pilot holds the responsibility to train the organisation’s Remote Pilots, which is another good reason to get it right the first time.

Aviassist runs Night Visual Line of Sight induction training designed to assist an organisation in getting started with Night Visual Line of Sight operations safely and efficiently. The training course includes everything you need to gain initial Night Visual Line of Sight experience and train Remote Pilots in the organisation.

Our Night Visual Line of Sight package includes:

• Night Visual Line of Sight induction training
• Lesson Plans
• Learner guide
• Presentations

It becomes much easier to hit objects at night as our depth perception gets worse, and that’s for the objects that we can still see. The easiest way to avoid hitting objects is to establish a lowest safe altitude for the area of drone operations. This can be determined by flying the area during the day or studying available maps and charts. From there it is simple, on take off fly up to the lowest safe altitude and don’t descend lower than the lowest safe altitude until established over the safe take off and landing area.

The human eye is very susceptible to sudden changes in the brightness of light. It takes up to 30 minutes for the eye to develop night vision, including recovering night vision after exposure to bright lights. Look into headlights or a torch, and you might find yourself flying blind. Ways to protect your eyes include:

• Turn down the brightness on devices
• Use red light filters
• Stand behind lights set up for take-off and landing
• Design the flight to look away from bright objects

Navigation lights on the drone ensure that the drone is visible to other airspace users. As a bonus, they make it easier to identify the orientation of the drone. Note that most drones turn off some lights when recording photos or video.

Another good feature on modern drones to keep visible is strobe lights. Once away from the takeoff and landing area, drones equipped with strobes provide enhanced visibility to potential traffic.

While it is uncommon to see crewed traffic low at night, there are still a number of activities that fly low at night to look out for, such as military and emergency services. Typically, the pilots of these aircraft are equipped with night vision goggles.

Modern commercially available sensors are capable of sensing objects at night which can assist with the identification of:

• Obstacles to avoid
• Low cloud
• People

There are a number of illusions that affect our performance at night. The lack of obstacles to reference alone reduces our stimulus, which can cause the eyes to relax to a focal length of 1-2m. This can cause us to miss anything important at a distance. This same lack of stimulus reduces stress levels, which can lead to underperformance; a little bit of stress is a good thing.

Another example of an illusion affecting us at night is the autokinetic illusion, where a fixed light source appears to move. This is simply due to the natural movement of our eyes, which can cause us to second-guess our drone’s position or suspect traffic may be approaching.

The colour of the lights we see on crewed aircraft indicates their direction of travel:

• Red and green – moving towards
• White – moving away
• Green – Moving left to right
• Red – Moving right to left

The most effective part of the eye for daytime conditions is the centre of the eye. However the centre of the eye is not very effective at night and we find better night vision though offsetting our view.  This is why we find it easier to find a key hole at night if we slightly look away from the key hole.

If you need help getting started with Night Visual Line of Sight(NVLOS) our professional team are here to help. Aviassist prides itself on assisting organisations in introducing, growing, and maturing drone operations to improve safety and productivity. Please feel welcome to contact our team to discuss you NVLOS needs.