is there a way to get short nights without interfering with events such as Heli/cargo ship ????

try this https://umod.org/plugins/time-of-day i use this with 10min night and 50 min day and i saw always spawning a cargo ship befor i start using a plugin for it but it will work. for patrolhelicopter and cargoplane i dont know i didnt try it.

cheers will test it and let u know