Development and Inflight Testing of a Multi-Media Course for Instructing Navigation for Might Nap-of-the-Earth Flight

Abstract

This paper describes the development and evaluation of a course of instruction to train Army aviators to navigate during flight operations at nap-of-the-earth (NOE) altitudes at night. The course was developed to provide instruction in map interpretation and terrain analysis using both unaided (naked eye) and aided (Night Vision Goggles) vision, and incorporated lecture, textual, and visual materials. Evaluation of the course was carried out in the UH-1 helicopter flying at NOE altitudes at night. Results of the evaluation indicated that a group of student pilots who received instruction in the course navigated at night along an NOE route with significantly more accuracy than did a control group. Implications of these results for training NOE night navigation are discussed.