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Tracking-based safety systems provider spidertracks today announced that it meets the criteria to provide tracking services for aerial firefighting operations in Australia.

The New Zealand-based company is already providing tracking services for many firefighting operators across Australia and will continue to do so under the Australian National Aerial Firefighting Centre’s (NAFC) initiative to standardise tracking of firefighting and related operations across the eight states.

The NAFC has chosen to implement a system that will see tracking data integrated into one system, but will allow operators to choose which tracking solution to use based on their individual needs. According to NAFC General Manager Richard Alder they have chosen the integrated data approach, rather than appointing just one tracking provider, “to give aircraft operators a much better range of options for participation and to take advantage of systems and equipment that is already in place”.

Spidertracks meets the NAFC’s criteria of being able to provide real-time tracking data, continuously, enabling greater coordination of resources between the various agencies involved.

Spider Tracks Limited Director Bruce Bartley says the NAFC’s approach allows operators to choose the system that is right for them. “We have many customers that are contracted to provide firefighting services in Australia. This decision means that our clients will be able to benefit from the spidertracks’ superior tracking and location-aware safety services, and the data that is collected, while meeting their flight following requirement for NAFC.”

“We have proven ourselves in a similar environment in the United States, providing flight following services to contractors to US and Canadian fire and forestry sectors, who require all of their contractors to have an approved Automated Flight Following system. Meeting the NAFC’s needs further validates our reputation as a trusted flight following and safety system.”

Mr Bartley says spidertracks has satellite texting capability, which meets the NAFC’s desire to include SMS messaging capability and event logging as part of its system in the future.

Mr Bartley says spidertracks is offering a special deal for Australian aviation and land-based organisations that are required to implement a flight following system by NAFC.

Those who purchase and activate their spider before the end of February 2010 will receive the first three months subscription to the Iridium satellite network for free. Further details are available by contact spidertracks at info@spidertracks.com or by calling 1800 461 776.

The largest privately owned fixed-wing fleet in the world has chosen aircraft tracking system spidertracks to watch over its pilots.

The New Zealand-based company is delighted to announce that it has formed a relationship with the International Association of Missionary Aviation.

Sales Director Bruce Bartley says: “IAMA represents more than 70 missionary aviation organisations working in over 30 countries around the world, made up of Christian airmen that use aviation to bring hope and assistance to people living in remote and hard-to-access places. They have hundreds of aircraft flying under their umbrella and we are rapt they have chosen to watch over the safety of their pilots with spidertracks.”

Missionary aviation’s stated mission is to fly light aircraft in developing countries to reach isolated people and help development organisations work in remote areas. Each organisation owns and operates its own aircraft, undertaking relief missions, air ambulance flights, aerial surveys and transporting non-governmental organisation staff into remote regions.

“Spidertracks has a growing reputation as being reliable and trusted. This is exactly what missionary aviation organisations need. They want reassurance that wherever they are in the world their aircraft are being tracked and their pilots are being watched over. These guys are operating in some very remote and dangerous regions. The organisation wants to know that if something does go wrong, the pilots can be found as quickly as possible. Spidertracks can offer that.”

The relationship was cemented at AirVenture 2009 in May. Bartley says IAMA is encouraging each member organisation to invest in the safety of its pilots by installing the satellite-based tracking systems and they are now being slowly rolled out across the missionary aviation fleet.

Background on spidertracks

Spidertracks was invented for one key reason – to save lives. The first truly portable satellite-based GPS tracking solution for aircraft, spidertracks makes safety technology accessible by all pilots giving them peace of mind that if they are in an accident, rescue service will get to them quickly. Launched in 2007, the integrated hardware and software package is now sold in over 30 countries, Spidertracks also pioneered ‘active tracking’. Its spiderwatch service uses the website to monitor each flight, with emergency alerts automatically generated by the system within minutes of an accident enabling rescue services to locate the aircraft and get to the site quickly, saving crucial time - and lives .

The Philips Search and Rescue Trust has chosen Palmerston North-based aircraft tracking system spidertracks as its flight following provider.

The Trust operates and manages the rescue helicopter bases in Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupo and Palmerston North, as well as a fixed-wing air ambulance based in Hamilton and Taupo.

John Funnell says the movements of all emergency services are monitored by the ambulance communications centres in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

With spidertracks, the communications centres can see where all the rescue helicopters are at all times, he says. “They can follow our progress and if another emergency arises, retask us while we are still in the air. Because they know where all their assets are at all times they can deploy the best aircraft to get to the scene the fastest. This is of real benefit to the public because we can be more responsive. And we make sure we make best use of resources.”

Funnell says they also do offshore work for the Rescue Coordination Centre. “We can be up to 500miles, 1000km offshore. RCC can continually monitor us – which gives us peace of mind to know that they are following and supporting us.

“With spidertxt satellite texting, the RCC can communicate with us when we are miles offshore – they can follow where we have been and direct us to different search areas. They can keep us informed of progress by texting and we can text back our position reports.”

Funnell says because the tracking data can be fed directly into the RCC and ambulance communications centres as well as accessed via the internet, the Trust operations bases can also monitor where their aircraft are. “The big thing for me is to be able to monitor their progress and assist the pilots, particularly when they are working in deteriorating weather – we can text the pilots of what’s ahead and make alternative arrangements to make sure they are kept safe.”

Palmerston North base pilot Todd Dunham says by the very nature of their jobs, rescue helicopters are operating in remote regions over rough terrain. “We’re called in where vehicles can’t go. There’s a lot of bush and rough terrain that can swallow a helicopter. Spidertracks gives me peace of mind that if I’m upside down somewhere, I can be found as quickly as possible.”

Spidertracks sales director Bruce Bartley says they are very pleased to have the Trust on board. “We’re delighted that the Philips Trust, one of the original and most respected rescue helicopter providers, operating in the demanding world of rescue and EMS flying, has chosen spidertracks as its tracking provider.”

GHD consultants describe spidertracks as a type of insurance that they hope they never have to use.

“But it is there just in case,” says Alex Chisholm, Senior Structural Engineer, “giving us more chance of finding someone in time in a worst case scenario.”

Changes in plans are very frequent for GHD staff – engineers and consultants that offer a range of services including bridge inspection and flood remedial works, throughout New Zealand - and the world. With spidertracks, staff can be located wherever they are, even in the most remote rural areas.

GHD is a global business with 6,000 employees mostly in the Australasian region. It has 16 offices around New Zealand. The tracking systems will be used in staff operating in the Far North, Taumarunui, Otago, Ruapehu and Manawatu regions, with a person in each office allocated the task of watching over their staff.

The investment in spidertracks is an investment in the safety of their staff, says Shane Allen, Environmental Process Engineer, and the feedback from staff is very positive. “The staff feel that they are being looked after better,” he says.

GHD recently conducted a risk assessment and identified staff working in remote areas with no cell phone coverage as one of the major risks. Spidertracks eliminates this risk and provides safety for people working alone in adverse weather in moderately risky activities, he says.

Shane says spidertracks also provides “a sense of ease” for family as they can go online and see the exact location of their partners.

While it has been implemented primarily for its safety benefits, GHD is looking to see how they can use the tracking system to mark sites and where repair work is needed in order to increase efficiency and productivity in their business. GHD trialed other simple safety alerting systems but found that while spidertracks has a higher upfront cost, the extra functionality that spidertracks offers, including increased coverage and portability, better met their needs.

Palmerston North, New Zealand. 17 July 2009 – New Zealand-based aircraft tracking company spidertracks is claiming a world first with the launch of spiderwatch, a flight following solution that actively watches over every flight.

The company is positioning spidertracks with spiderwatch as an alternative safety system to Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs), as the spiderwatch system sends emergency alerts automatically as soon as an accident occurs.

Spiderwatch is being launched at AirVenture 2009 at Oshkosh and at the AIA show in Blenheim on 27 July.

Spidertracks director Bruce Bartley says it’s a simple concept that could revolutionise how GA pilots think about flight tracking and safety.

“We think spiderwatch has potential to replace the need for traditional flight planning and it’s certainly an alternative to ELTs.

“Studies into the effectiveness of ELTs in New Zealand have found that they fail to activate in 86 per cent of accidents. The cause of the failures – high impact, fire, aerial damage, or because they are submerged are common in aircraft accidents. The newer 406MHz beacons generate fewer false alerts than the old 121.5MHz ELTs but the problems that caused the 121.5s to fail, are still going to cause problems for the 406s.

“Because the spiderwatch alert is generated from the system, not by the unit in the aircraft, it doesn’t matter if the spider is damaged in the crash. You can rely on it to send an alert 100 per cent of the time.”

Spiderwatch is automatically turned on when the aircraft accelerates through 40 knots. This tells the system to ‘actively’ monitor the flight. If the spider tracking device loses power, as would happen in a crash, the system loses contact with the spider, triggering text and email alerts to be automatically sent to recipients nominated by the user. If the first tier of recipients doesn’t acknowledge the alert, the system sends the alert to a second tier of recipients including the Rescue Coordination Centre. The pilot’s first tier recipients can also confirm they have received the alert and request the system still notify emergency services.

To cancel the monitoring at the safe completion of the flight, all the pilot has to do is press the ‘cancel spiderwatch’ button on the spidertracks keypad.

Other tracking solutions on the global market are passive systems, only creating a track of an aircraft or vehicle’s movements. In some systems alerts can be generated manually by the pilot during flight. Spidertracks pioneered the concept of active monitoring with its keypad, which enabled pilots to activate ‘monitoring’ mode if they encountered bad weather, for example. This told the website to actively watch over their flight and send alerts to the pilot’s contacts if it lost contact with the spider. Spiderwatch takes that concept one step further by monitoring every flight, 24/7.

Bartley says some countries are recognising how aircraft tracking solutions provide a safer and more effective alternative to ELTs.

“The Canadian minister of transport recently decided not to mandate 406s in aircraft registered in and entering Canada because the legislation did not allow for the inclusion of the latest, and more effective aircraft tracking technologies as an alternative to ELTs.”

Bartley says spidertracks with spiderwatch is also an alternative to traditional flight planning.

“Under the existing system, pilots file a manual flight plan prior to take off nominating their route and a time that they will land at their destination. If the pilot exceeds their SARtime, emergency services are notified. The downfall of this system is that a significant time could have elapsed between an aircraft accident and when SARtime elapses and a search is initiated. In addition, rescue services have limited knowledge of where the aircraft is, based on only where the pilot stated they intended to go.

“With spiderwatch, the alert is raised within minutes of the system losing contact with the spider and the aircraft can be located immediately based on its last reported position point, saving valuable time in the event of a real emergency.”

He says Spider Tracks Limited has filed a patent for active monitoring for aircraft. Active tracking is reliant on having a comprehensive global satellite network, Iridium, to ensure aircraft can be seen wherever they are in the world.

Bartley says the two tier alerting system gives those who know the pilot best the chance to contact them first. This is a safeguard for pilots who de-power the aircraft without cancelling their spiderwatch.

Spidertracks now offers two-way texting between aircraft and those on the ground via the Iridium satellite network.

With spidertracks’ new generation Bluetooth spiders, clients will be able to text anyone, from anywhere in the world, via the Iridium satellite network.

A Windows compatible PDA equipped with easily downloadable spidertxt software, will link to the Bluetooth spider so pilots can send and receive texts from the ground – either between the operations base or to and from other cellphones via the spidertracks website.

Spidertracks sales director Bruce Bartley says fleet operators and commercial pilots will particularly benefit from the new service. “The great thing about satellite texting is that it will work from anywhere. You’ll be able to text people from the other side of the world from places that don’t have cellphone cover. That’s particularly important for those who need to communicate with their pilots when they’re in hard to reach places – like the bottom of the Grand Canyon for example.

“It will work better than satellite voice communication in those places because they system uses Short Burst Data so doesn’t require the signal to be as strong as voice communication does. And it’s cheaper.”

He says other systems rely on a special keypad in the cockpit. “One of the benefits of the spidertxt system is that it works with normal cellphones – as long as they are compatible with the system. And you can text through the system to other cellphones. Our philosophy is to keep everything as simple as we can for our clients and this is all about making their lives easier.”

The first release is for Windows compatible PDAs only, with software to enable a range of cellphones, including the iPhone, to talk to the system will be released soon.

Messages will be charged per leg, ie, from the cellphone/spider to the user’s operations base and a further charge from the server on to another cellphone. A connection fee to the service will apply.