First Air installs flight tracking system designed by FLYHT Aerospace Solutions
comments
While attention is paid to aircraft tracking systems following the disappearance of two passenger jets, a Canadian airline's planes are outfitted with a system that makes them nearly impossible to disappear.
First Air's entire fleet is protected by a 6lb electronic tracking system that activates when something goes wrong while a plane is in the air.
The hardware is the size of a hotel safe and helps to pinpoint an aircraft's location during an emergency situation.
First Air's fleet is protected by a system that transmits data, including location and altitude, in real-time
Many planes are equipped with a similar reporting system that transmits data, but not in real-time
Share this article
Based in an Ottawa suburb, First Air flies between most remote communities in Canada's Arctic and its planes often find themselves off conventional radar in sparsely-populated regions.
When a plane is in distress the system the system transmits data – including location, altitude, airspeed and engine information– to computers on the ground using the Iridium satellite system.
In an age when it seems like it would be impossible to lose a plane – until the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 last March, that is – most commercial airlines have no comparable safeguard, the Washington Post reported.
One of the prohibitors, especially for larger airlines with a massive fleet, is the massive cost associated with purchasing and installing the technology on every plane, plus training for staff.
The hardware installed on First Air planes helps to pinpoint an aircraft's location during an emergency
The system used by First Air was designed by FLYHT Aerospace Solutions, and Bill Tempany, the Calgary company's chief executive, told the newspaper that installation along costs about $120,000 per plane (approximately £77,000).
First Air has a fleet of nearly 25 planes, which carry more than 225,000 passengers every year.
According to the company, it automatically transmits four-dimensional GPS-based position and flight data recorder information, including real-time positioning, when triggered by an airborne event.
'The real-time streaming of critical flight data to the ground creates a "virtual black box", allowing the data to be analysed immediately,' the company said.
All commercial planes are equipped with a 'black box', which does not transmit information to the ground
When the system is triggered data arrives from the aircraft within 15 seconds, and personnel are automatically notified via an urgent email or text message, or through visual or audible notification on FLYHT software.
'With immediate event reporting and position tracking it is possible to enhance the provision of appropriate procedures and resources to improve SAR reaction times,' the company said on its website.
Most planes are equipped with the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, which transmits flight data to the ground but is not in real-time. Flight data recorders, or black boxes, do not transmit information to the ground.
The disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines plane sparked calls for improved flight-tracking systems
The disappearance of MH370 sparked calls for airlines to improve their flight-tracking and data-reporting systems so that they are more precise, transmit data more frequently and cannot vanish without a trace while flying through 'blind spots' on conventional radar, including oceans and polar regions.
Those calls were amplified following last week's disaster involving AirAsia flight QZ8501, which crashed into the sea off Indonesia.
But Mr Tempany isn't convinced that change will happen any time soon, telling the Washington Post: 'The industry itself feels it has no reason to hurry up and do it.
'They feel everything is good just the way it is. I personally have a very strong feeling that it's not fair to the flying public.'
Put the internet to work for you.
0 comments:
Post a Comment