When dusk fell across Korea's rugged mountainous landscape, aerial firefighting fleets were historically forced to land, leaving ground crews to battle encroaching blazes against the cover of darkness. That tactical gap is now closing as forestry authorities embrace specialized night operations. The Andong Regional Aviation Office, under the Korea Forest Service, said it has qualified two pilots for night vision goggle (NVG) operations aboard the S-64E Skycrane — a heavy-lift helitanker capable of dropping thousands of liters of water in a single pass. This establishes a dedicated nighttime firefighting capability centered in North Gyeongsang Province, a region historically vulnerable to destructive seasonal blazes. The certification marks the culmination of an intensive multi-stage training program conducted from late May through early August. Pilots underwent rigorous ground instruction, flight-simulator training and drills before progressing to advanced tactical night flights using NVGs. Central to the preparations were high-intensity exercises around Andong Lake and Imha Dam. Crew