A new Alaska Flight Service program called Enhanced Special Reporting Service (eSRS) is paving the way for the United States’ first integration between traditional and next-generation Spidertracks flight management systems.
The program allows Flight Service to directly receive an alert via the Spider from an aircraft in distress. Flight Service does not actively track the flights — but once an alert is generated, it’s able to receive the flight information, the position of the aircraft, and any other information about what the aircraft was doing before it entered distress.
Spidertracks’ CEO Dave Blackwell says that as one of the only Federal Aviation Administration approved devices, Spidertracks is able to augment and enhance the benefits of the standard visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan through the eSRS system.
“The eSRS program brings incredible value to the aviation community here in Alaska, and we’re excited to be a key player in bringing this to fruition,” said Blackwell. “An unfortunate reality when flying anywhere in the world is that accidents can happen. When they do, it is crucial to the survival of aircrew and passengers for first responders to have both early insight into the incident and a well-defined search area.”
“Given the adverse terrain and weather conditions in Alaska, this is an even greater reality,” he added. “The integration between Spidertracks and eSRS gives the operator the best possible chance of surviving such an event.”
This year’s Alaska Airman Show marks the ninth Spidertracks has attended. While in Anchorage, they’ll be visiting new and existing customers.
“Spidertracks has been providing real-time aircraft tracking and safety management capabilities in Alaska for many years now, and this enhancement by Flight Services is a great fit with who we are, and what we stand for,” said Blackwell. “Nowhere else in the world do they use aircraft as uniquely as they do in Alaska — and unique uses require innovative solutions.”
