Earlier this year, we spoke to Steven Sherwood from Sandhills Aviation, an aviation service provider focused on providing aviation solutions for aerial survey operations. They conduct aerial survey missions primarily from October–May throughout the contiguous United States.
With operational and maintenance bases out of Wahoo, NE (KAHQ) and Mesa, AZ (KFFZ), they are strategically positioned to be able to provide many resources for their customers. Sandhills Aviation fleet comprises of 4 Cessna 172 Skyhawks and 4 Piper Aztecs for their aerial survey division, and are in a continual state of growth.
Their three main types of projects are wide area projects, including entire counties, large scale oil pipelines or electric grids for power lines, and work for the military and government where they require specialised mapping.
As an organisation, safety, efficiency of operations, and their focus on quality over quantity, are not just important - but imperative.
When covering a country that spans over 9.8 million kilometres, Sherwood needs assurance in knowing exactly where his fleet of fixed-wing aircraft are at all times, and how they are being flown, for the safety of his team and efficiency of his fleet.
Spidertracks recently released the latest edition to the solution’s feature suite - Insights. The new reporting dashboard gives aviators the ability to see everything at a glance, set specific flight parameters they want to measure exceedance against, and get detailed reports on all flights that have flown.
Sherwood says it’s nice to have back and forth communication to stay connected and help his pilots out. He likes having the ability to watch them fly, and monitor some of the safety events they have.
Insights allows Sherwood to read the report at each end of the day, to see how his team flew, and how the aircraft weathered on their journeys.
Visual oversight is a key component of ensuring the safety of Sherwoods team members.
