US operator Maverick Helicopters has become the official launch customer for Insights, a virtual FDR platform from Spidertracks, a provider of satellite aircraft tracking, fleet management and communication solutions headquartered in New Zealand.

Earlier this year at Heli-Expo 2020, the Spidertracks team announced the latest edition to the spider family, Spider X, a simple and affordable plug-and-play solution, enabling aircraft owners and operators to see where and how their aircraft are flying. Spider X collects critical data from an aircraft, such as roll, pitch, yaw, speed and altitude, which is then delivered wirelessly to the Spidertracks platform.

Spidertracks is leveraging more than 14 years of expertise to offer aircraft owners and operators an easy entry into flight data monitoring (FDM). Making flight data available and knowing what is happening during a flight allows customers to use this actionable information to avoid or reduce emergency events.

Insights will provide both operational and safety efficiencies by utilising data to deliver flight safety events based on the aircraft's attitude, vertical speed, altitude, heading and exceedances.

“We're looking forward to more data and information from our aircraft and seeing the benefit to our business and its operations, also highlighting areas where there may be inefficiencies,” notes John Mandernach, regional partner of Maverick Helicopters, “The potential is endless.”

Spidertracks CEO Dave Blackwell adds: “This is an exciting time for the industry. Maverick Helicopters' position on safety aligns with our mission of saving lives, and we're thrilled to have it on the journey with us. The same barriers exist today in flight data monitoring that existed in tracking when we started. Our latest evolution, Insights, aims to bridge the gap and break down those barriers by utilising data captured on Spider X to calculate safety events that indicate high-risk manoeuvres and deliver it in a simple and easy format.”

Founded in 1995, Maverick is one of the largest aviation-based tourism companies in the world. It has over 20 years of experience in the industry and over 400 dedicated team members with safety and a VIP level of service as their top priorities. Greg Rochna, company founder and a former pilot himself, knows the importance of aviation safety, and this has been recognised on a global scale. The company have received numerous Diamond awards of excellence from the FAA, making it a top safety tour operator and one of the world's most recognised.

Its services span from Las Vegas to Hawaii, dipping in and out of the Grand Canyon, over the city that never sleeps and over the crystal clear blue waters surrounding the stunning landscapes of the Maui and Kauai islands. The company takes more than 250,000 guests on VIP tours every year and clocks in around 500,000 total flight hours with the Airbus H130s in its fleet.