Rotorcraft Report: New Zealand Hunts for Stolen U.S. NVGs

PRODUCTS/MISSION EQUIPMENT

New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority in August asked helicopter operators in that South Pacific nation to verify that they do not have night-vision goggles stolen from the U.S. Air Force.

Various press reports said the agency asked operators on Aug. 31 to provide serial numbers of their night vision goggles. That followed the arrest of a USAF staff sergeant and his mother in the United States on charges of stealing goggles and other gear from Hurlburt Field, Fla., including NVGs, and selling the items to buyers in Belgium, Germany, and New Zealand through the eBay on-line auction house.

Staff Sgt. Leonard Allen Schenk, assigned to the Air Force 20th Special Operations Sqdn. at Hurlburt, pled not guilty to the charges. He faces trial Oct. 1. Hurlburt Field, in Florida’s Panhandle, is home to the headquarters of the Air Force Special Operations Command.