Canadian passenger, cargo and charter carrier First Air has ordered 19 automated flight information reporting systems (AFIRS) from Calgary-based AeroMechanical Systems for its fleet of Boeing 737-200, ATR-42/72 and Boeing 767-200F freighter aircraft.
First Air will be the largest customer for the AeroMechanical reporting systems, marketed under the FLYHT brand name, currently in use by seven Canadian carriers.
While FLYHT's press release did not announce the name of the new airline, the fleet mix and carrier description in the press release was only matched by one airline in the FlightglobalPro database - First Air. The airline was not immediately available for comment.
AFIRS allows for real-time connectivity between aircraft and ground using the Iridium satellite communications network. Along with flight-following, First Air will receive engine trending information, airframe and engine exceedances and "Out", "Off" and "In" time tags for each flight.
AeroMechanical said First Air will use the data to support its flight operations quality assurance (FOQA) safety programme, a tool that uses de-identified aircraft performance and operational data to identify accident precursors and assess risks.
It is not clear if the purchase is related to the 20 August 2011 crash of a First Air Boeing 737-210C conducting an instrument approach to Resolute Bay in the Canadian arctic. Canadian investigators have described the crash as a controlled-flight-into-terrain (CFIT) accident. Twelve of the 15 on board were killed, including the four-member flight crew. The investigation is ongoing.
The contract, valued at as much as $1.95 million, includes equipment and data services to the airline for five years. Installations are expected to begin this year and finished fleet-wide within 18 months.
FLYHT is in the process of gaining certification for the AFIRS on the Boeing 767-200F and ATR-42/72 aircraft models.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
