Air Controller Wowed By Pilot's Ability To See Mystery
Object Over Las Vegas With Night Vision:
"Around 9pm local time on Saturday, March 16th, 2019, an air ambulance
helicopter was flying roughly 15 miles west of central Last Vegas when something
odd caught his aided eye. During an exchange with an air traffic controller, the
pilot of Mercy Air 21, an Agusta 119 Koala helicopter, noted spotting an
unidentified object some distance from his position and only he was likely able to
see it in the darkness as he was wearing night vision goggles (NVGs). The
controller responded that he had nothing on radar in the area where he was
seeing the object, but when he heard the pilot could only see it through his NVGs,
he responded with amazement.
Our good friend @Aircraftspots mentioned the odd exchange on twitter and
posted the audio to Soundcloud, which you can listen to in full below. Apparently,
he was tipped off to it by fellow Twitter user and aviation aficionado @KE6ZGP.
You can hear the pilot alert the controller to spotting something over the
"Southern Hills area." This is not a topographic landmark, it is a hospital in the
southwest corner of the Las Vegas metropolitan area. He notes that the objects
appears to be at around 7,000 feet and that it could be a balloon or "something
along those lines" and that it is unlit.
The controller responds saying he doesn't see it, but that doesn't mean there isn't
something out there. The pilot then informs him that he has night vision goggles
on and that he can only see it through the goggles. The controller seems pretty
amazed with the pilot's capabilities, responding "oooh that's awesome.""
See:
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone...h-night-vision