Viperpits and BMS Falcon- the next best thing to being there!
I have been thinking about this, but nvg’s are super expensive. I would use them not just in the pit, they would be really cool and useful. Just that they cost THOUSANDS of dollars!!
One of the coolest NVG demos I ever participated in was the projection of a night OTW display from a sim on a wall, in the dark - we all got wear a pilot's helmet with a set of ANVIS-9 goggles to view the demo.Just to check things, I spent some time looking around/under my goggles during the demo - the room and projection on the wall were near to black, but through the goggles I could see cultural features, terrain, etc. Was a REALLY great demo.I think the major hurdle is getting your projectors turned down low enough to not bloom the goggles and simulate the night environment. If there is too much light, you can risk damaging your goggles, and OTOH there has to be some ambient light for the goggles to work. When done properly it's well worth the effort.
Actually, we had a Test Pilot have his NVGs bloom severely when I conducted my first MAV-E launch from a Harrier at night...totally greened-out when the missile came off (which none of us expected - not even my pilot), and all he could do was go for sky until he could see again...I guess I'll add that it also depends on just which goggles you are using - I've played around with quite a few types since 1986, from ANVIS-1-9s, GEC Cats Eyes (my fav, actually), QuadEyes...and I've seen them do all sorts of things.And one of the big issues I have with how NVGs are simulated in BMS is the "tube" effect. I found I have far more peripheral vision than BMS portrays, and that I also spend quite a bit of time looking around/beneath the goggles than one might think - but my night vision has also been superior to my day vision, until my current age. One of the reasons I like Cats Eyes (even after all this time) is because they are really a HUD in front of each eye - no tubes - and not only does that give you more periphery, they also have/had the clearest, most non-fizzy picture I've seen.https://rochesteravionicarchives.co.uk/collection/goggles-head-mounted-display-nvg-hmd/cats-eyes...heh - reminds me, I have a Cats Eyes patch in my collection! This page says they went into production "circa 1990", but I was playing with them well before that - mid 80s.
You don't look "through the tubes" with Cats Eyes - the tubes are light collectors which project an image into a combiner, and you look through the combiner in front of each of your eyes. The combiners on the ones I got to play with were only about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep, so it was very easy to look around or underneath them. But I don't think Cats Eyes are out there any longer, and were only in use by Harrier and helo pilots - USMC mainly...and the RAF? This is a pretty good face pic with Cats Eyes, so you can see how they are constructed:https://cdn.rochesteravionicarchives.co.uk/img/catalog/ZZ_1293126549_044%20Cats%20Eyes%20Front%20View%20WM.jpg?w=150&fit=maxOTOH, MOST of the gear I've worked with has been pre-production/developmental...as a tester I generally get to work with things first, before they get formally deployed...yes - the first Cats Eyes were really sensitive.All of the USMC and USN guys I worked with at the time always said they looked under their goggles to look inside the cockpit...but that was a long time ago, and I don't do much NVG stuff anymore.
Yeah, I know...but that's another cool thing about Cats Eyes (as I've said - "my fav") - you don't have to "focus" them as much as you have to "align" them....but I've also spent time standing in front of a Hoffman Box setting up ANVIS types too. I've had about everything on my head from NVD to JHMCS over the years...which brings me to the "fearsome" QuadEye - which is an NVD that also has JHMCS built into it: