Spidertracks Customer Spotlight: OGL Engineering, Canada
Since its founding in 1980, Calgary-based OGL Engineering has undergone a number of name changes to reflect their expansions and evolutions. From the original ‘Orthoshop’ moniker to Orthoshop Geomatics to the current OGL Engineering, the Canadian geospatial intelligence firm has worked to provide more and more value for clients by continually building their repertoire of expertise and services — one of which is housing their own fleet of aircraft and offering in-house maintenance.
This is where Spidertracks comes in. OGL uses our tracking capabilities, automated features, and Spidertxt to streamline their operations, keep their fleet safe, and elevate their customer service game. We asked OGL Operations Manager Alfred D’Mello to talk about why Spidertracks is important to the firm, and here’s what he said.
Tell us a bit about your organisation. What do you do? How long have you been in operation?
OGL Engineering was established in 1980 under the name ‘The Orthoshop.’ We’re a full-service geospatial intelligence firm utilising the latest technology and software to acquire, process, manage, and showcase geospatial data. Since 2003, OGL has owned and operated our own fleet of aircraft and airborne sensors.
How did you become aware of Spidertracks, and when did you begin using us? What was involved in your decision to become a Spidertracks customer?
We’d previously tested a different flight tracking system, but it interfered with the sensors onboard our aircraft every time it sent its position. This issue came up in a conversation with one of our clients, and they recommended Spidertracks to us.
Since Spidertracks was very easy to install and didn’t require aircraft certification, we were able to quickly determine that it did not cause interference with our sensors.
What Spidertracks features and functionalities are the most important for you, and why?
The basic tracking features give us better peace of mind, especially when our crews are working in remote areas with limited cellular coverage. It’s also very easy for our pilots to use because flight watch automatically activates on takeoff. After landing, the pilot just has to press a button to turn it off.
What would you say are the biggest strengths of the Spidertracks system?
The biggest strength for us is being able to access Spidertracks through the web or mobile app, which allows us to track and communicate with the flight crews from anywhere.
What key issues for your business has Spidertracks helped with?
One of the game-changing features was Spidertxt. Spidertxt allows our flight crews to contact us from anywhere, including when they fly at high altitude outside of the range of cell towers. This has been especially useful for our operation.
Most of our aircraft only have two seats: one for the pilot and one for the sensor operator. The sensor operator gets training on the ground but not in the air, and occasionally they have questions or concerns while in flight. Using Spidertxt, they’re able to get in touch with someone to address those concerns and then continue on their mission.
Have we helped you fly safer and smarter? If so, how?
We can definitely fly smarter and safer thanks to the KML layers feature on the web version of Spidertracks. With the KML layers, we can lay our flight lines over aviation maps so our pilots can get an accurate view of airspace.
Anything else you’d like us to know? We’d love to hear it!
Spidertracks has excellent customer service. Whenever we have any questions or concerns about Spidertracks, we can contact them directly through the app or the web, and we always get a quick response back.
Schedule a demo to understand what Spidertracks could do for your aviation business.
