Mercy Flight campaign for night-vision goggles nets $240,000

Mercy Flight Central, which provides air-medical services for residents in upstate New York, today announced it raised $240,000 in a campaign to purchase night-vision goggles (NVGs).

Mercy Flight, a nonprofit based in Canandaigua, has bases of operation in Marcellus and in Utica.

Local businesses, charitable foundations, and hundreds of individual donors contributed to the fund-raising effort, the nonprofit said in a news release.

NVGs are lightweight binoculars mounted to the flight crew’s helmet, which uses a low-voltage battery pack for power. The technology enables the pilot and crew to see objects that might not be seen readily by the naked eye, Mercy Flight said.

Such objects might include utility lines, utility poles, trees, fences, towers, and people, according to the organization.

“NVGs have been a major priority to Mercy Flight Central as these devices improve the safety and response time of each mission,” Neil Snedeker, president and CEO of Mercy Flight, said in the news release.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have “begun encouraging strongly” the use of NVGs during emergency medical flights, Mercy Flight said in a news release.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com