Maverick Helicopters have been in operation for over 25 years, and hold one of the best safety records in the industry. They have received travel industry and hospitality accolades from USA Today’s 10BEST, Las Vegas Review Journal’s “Best of Las Vegas”, and “Best of Maui” by Hawaii Magazine, and are known industry-wide for their strict standards, which help uphold their safety reputation.
We spoke to John Mandernach, Regional Partner of Maverick Helicopters, about how the team utilises Spidertracks’ feature, Insights, to analyse exactly how their aircraft are being flown, use this to proactively mitigate risks, and continue operating a high level of safety, while still delivering an exceptional service.
With four permanent operations across Las Vegas, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Canyon West, and Maui, Hawaii, Maverick Helicopters’ fleet conducts over 85 flights a day.
They need critical oversight of how pilots are flying their aircraft along designated routes in each region, and to have the ability to obtain and use detailed flight information to understand why they may be getting flown a certain way.
To capture flight information at an incredible level of detail, Maverick Helicopters utilise Insights from Spidertracks, which allows the team to set specific flight parameters within a certain threshold, and activate triggers if these are exceeded during flight. These triggers are called Safety Events. Safety Events are captured and bundled into a report that Mandernach can review each day, and get a greater understanding of how each of the aircraft are being flown. He can then use this to speak to pilots, and work together to make aware of the risks associated with the Safety Events occurring, and proactively mitigate these so they don’t happen in the future.
When Mandernach originally implemented Insights, he wanted it to be part of the safety initiative and improve the team’s safety culture - he had no idea that he would also see an additional ROI.
“Anything we can show that makes us safer in maintenance and in the flight department goes well with the insurance companies, and Insights allows us to do that.”
Insights has proven more valuable than Mandernach’s original intent - it’s become more than an accident prevention and behaviour tool and more than a contributor to the team’s safety culture - he’s been able to have constructive conversations with pilots and team members alike, and - he’s also seen a great return on investment.
