Cessna Adopts spidertracks Tracking System

Palmerston North-based satellite tracking solutions company spidertracks announced at the end of September that it has reached an agreement with the Cessna Aircraft Company to have its new product distributed through Cessna’s global aircraft support network.

Spidertracks uses GPS coordinates and the Iridium satellite network to track aircraft or other vehicles in real-time, enabling the whereabouts of an aircraft or vessel to be known at all times—wherever it is in the world. Spidertracks will be sold through Cessna’s 360 parts and service centres worldwide.

“Our agreement with Cessna is extremely exciting,” said Bruce Bartley, one of spidertracks’ directors. “Cessna’s decision to offer our tracking solution is a real vote of confidence in the product.”

Bartley has just returned from launching the system at Cessna’s annual dealer conference at the home of Cessna in Wichita, Kansas.

“We had a great response to spidertracks at the conference. This new technology delivers a major step forward in aviation safety. The dealers seemed favourably impressed and found benefits of this satellite-based tracking for all aviators. Spidertracks is about safety and peace of mind for pilots, aircraft owners, fleet managers and families. It’s a good fit with Cessna ’s commitment to enhancing the safety of its aircraft and its pilots.

“We launched spidertracks 18 months ago and we’ve now got clients in more than 28 countries. This partnership will ensure even more pilots have access to this up and coming technology through Cessna’s extensive and well-organised parts and service network,” Bartley said.

Spidertracks was selected by Cessna after more than eight months of extensive testing to ensure the spiders were compatible with existing electronic equipment aboard Cessna aircraft.

Bartley says the relationship with Cessna, increasing global market share and the need to standardise pricing globally has enabled the company to reduce overall charges to customers.

From 1 December, the monthly subscription charges to the Iridium network will be just US$19.95 and the fee per message will be just US$0.10c. For some clients, this will equate to approximately a 40% discount on their current charges of around NZ$3.00 an hour.

Spidertracks, which was developed in Palmerston North, takes the search out of search and rescue by recording the position of aircraft or vehicles in real time as they are moving. The system is made up of a “spider” tracking device which combines satellite communication and GPS technology in one small portable tracking device, which doesn’t require external antenna, and a web-based client interface. The spider device communicates GPS position coordinates, speed, altitude and direction to the spidertracks website. This information is translated into tracks of the aircraft or vehicle’s movements and overlaid over Google maps. The tracks and a permanent record of the flights or journeys are accessed via the internet so that aircraft, vehicles or vessels can be tracked and found by users from any computer, at any time from anywhere in the world. The system is also used to manage the logistics of fleets and coordinate the movements of air and ground assets. The portability of the spider tracking device means it is simple to install and cost-effective for users as spiders can be moved between aircraft or vehicles as required.