Latitude Technologies has signed a three-year contract to provide flight data analytics services to air ambulance operator Ornge for its fleet of Leonardo AW139 helicopters. Utilizing existing onboard solid state quick access recorders (SSQARs), Latitude will assist in developing a helicopter flight data monitoring (HFDM) program, whereby digital flight data generated during line operations is collected and analyzed to provide greater insight into the total flight operations environment. The information and insights provided by FDM can also be used to reduce operational costs and significantly enhance training effectiveness, operational procedures, maintenance and engineering procedures.
Latitude will supply software to download the data from the aircraft and the means to securely transfer it electronically for analysis. The information will be run against an industry accepted data set of AW139 parameters and limitations for exceedances as well as alert levels built into the monitoring system to capture exceedance events. “Expanding our long term relationship with Ornge into the HFDM analytics field is very important to us,” stated Tim Curtis, VP information services, Latitude Technologies. “We have supplied Iridium Satcom voice, flight following and data services to them since 2007 and feel that we can enhance existing services with this new partnership.”
