Aviation Specialties Unlimited (ASU) honored the first annual Night Vision Award winners at an awards ceremony in St. Louis at the Air Medical Transport Conference. Winners were selected for 5-year service award, 10-year service award, Community Awareness Award, Community Advancement Award and Mark of Excellence Award.

“There were a lot of great nomination this year and we were honored to recognize them at AMTC with their fellow operators across the country,” said ASU Chief Pilot Justin Watlington.

Travis Country STAR Flight in Austin, Texas and Med Trans Corporation from Lewisville, Texas was given the Five Year Service Award. HealthNet Aeromedical Services, from Charleston, West Virginia, and Enloe Flight Care from Chico, California were given 10-Year Service Awards.

“As an early adopter of night vision technology we appreciate that ASU has chosen to recognize our program,” said Clinton Burley, HealthNet President and CEO. “Night Vision Goggles positively impact the safety paradigm of our program.  We are committed to the continued use of life saving technology.”

Enloe Flight Care was also presented with the Community Awareness Award. “We were honored to receive the award, said Neil Cline, senior flight Nurse for Enloe Flight Care. “We are proud that our efforts to strive for safety were recognized. “We are out there putting our lives on the line every night,” added flight nurse Jade Reese. These awards add validity to all of our efforts to make safety our primary goal.”

Casey Ping is the Program Director for Travis County STAR Flight. “We were very excited to be selected,” said Ping. “Implementing and bringing a NVG program to maturity takes time and commitment and this award is public recognition of that effort. There are a lot of safety oriented, high quality, patient-centered programs in the U.S. These awards bring attention to the efforts of the industry to adopt technology, which greatly enhances the safety of night operations.”

The Mark of Excellence Award winner was Med-Trans Corporation. “When we first used NVG there was not the same level of acceptance,” said Fred Buttrell CEO and President of Med-Tans Corporation. “ASU helped pioneer a way for NVG use, helped us and many others. We looked to see how we could share what we knew. We never looked at NVG as a competitive advantage, but as a critical link to operator’s safety.”

Earlier in the year awards were given to EMS Operators, Era MED LLC, Geisinger Life Flight, Air St. Lukes, and Intermountain LifeFlight. “We look forward to honoring more deserving operators in 2012. We encourage operators to submit their nomination forms for the next round of Night Vision Awards,” said Watlington.

About ASU
Since 1995, ASU’s goal has been to implement night vision in the civil aviation market to increase operational safety and improve mission capabilities. Our focus is on providing a turnkey solution to our customers so that with one call they can obtain:
• Night vision goggles and replacement parts
• Service/inspection for goggles
• NVG cockpit lighting solutions, installed by our FAA-approved 145 repair station technicians at our facility in Boise, Idaho, or at the customer’s facility
• Cockpit replacement parts provided by our FAA-approved PMA
• Initial and recurrent training for flight crews on the use of night vision via an FAA-approved 141 Training Program and/or 135 Air Operator Certificate
• Assistance in establishing Night Vision Programs.

To date, ASU is quickly closing in on 600 aircraft STC installations and sold over 2,500 aviator systems here in the U.S.