Whether for safety, economy or to meet ICAO Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) standards, helicopter operators are showing increased interest in capturing and analyzing flight data. Spidertracks (Booth No. 4854), based in Palmerstown North, New Zealand, offers a global satellite-based system for fleet operators that tracks equipped aircraft in real time and records movements and flight data for later analysis. A simple, low-cost system, Spidertracks consists of an onboard “spider” unit and an Internet-based client interface for accessing data.
“We have a number of fleet operators using the system to manage their aircraft efficiently in real time, and they’re also purchasing it for safety,” said Rachel Donald, who handles the North American market for Spidertracks from the company’s Boulder, Colo. office. “We have found a niche with tourism operators, flight schools and various organizations with contracts with government agencies.”
