AIRCOM FLIGHTTRACKER MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF INFLIGHT SAFETY - SITAONAIR
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AIRCOM ®
FlightTracker
Meeting the challenge Deliver Precision.
Enhance Awareness.
of inflight safety Reinforce Safety.
UNLOCK
POSSIBILITIES
TODAY.
AIRCOM® FlightTracker
Contributors:
Igor Dimnik, Director, Airline OCC & Crew Application Portfolio
Dominique El Bez, VP, Product & Strategy
WHITE PAPER FOR AIRCRAFT
THE CHALLENGE
Did you know that in the last 70 years, 100+ aircraft GADSS: FLIGHT-TRACKING’S CHANGING SKIES
have disappeared and never been found? Since the high profile incidents involving flights MH370 in
March 2014, and AF447 in June 2009, flight tracking practices
The high profile tragedies of Air France AF447 and Malaysia rightly remain in sharp focus. By learning from the past,
Airlines MH370 have prompted aviation authorities to evaluate addressing operational limitations, and recognizing the
their flight tracking practices. With new International Civil fundamental importance of recovering flight recorder data
Aviation Organization (ICAO) flight tracking requirements, quickly post-incident, aviation has maintained relatively high
operators will be expected to declare their aircraft positions levels of safety.
at least once every minute.
The ICAO’s Global Aeronautical Distress and Safety System
For airlines this presents a fresh challenge. How can they (GADSS) recommendations are the result. GADSS spans
establish reliable flight tracking, without a major aircraft three phases, aimed at improving the overall ability of
overhaul, or avionics upgrade? aircraft manufacturers, operators and safety organizations
to respond in the event of catastrophe. Driving the new
SITA FOR AIRCRAFT has developed the solution, with standards – requiring operators to report aircraft positions
AIRCOM® FlightTracker. at least once every 15 minutes since 2018 (once a minute
from 2021) – is the need to drastically refine search areas.
Subsequent GADSS phases will promote Autonomous
Distress Tracking and Post Flight Localization and Recovery
or Timely Recovery of flight data.
The airline challenge “SITA FOR AIRCRAFT ENABLES
AIRLINES TO MEET THE ICAO’S
From November 2018 the ICAO REQUIREMENTS WITH OUR
requires airlines to track their AIRCOM® FLIGHTTRACKER,
aircraft at least every 15 minutes AND ITS GLOBAL, REAL-TIME
15 globally
CAPABILITIES.”
How do you meet industry
standards for flight tracking?
2 SITA FOR AIRCRAFT | WHITE PAPER
ACHIEVING 15-MINUTE FLIGHT-TRACKING SPACE-BASED AIRCRAFT TRACKING
Already adopted by airlines operating 250,000+ flights a The application aggregates the best available inflight position
month, SITA FOR AIRCRAFT’S AIRCOM® FlightTracker is a data from myriad sources – including cutting-edge spaced-
ground-based software system delivering vital global real- based ADS-B provided by FlightAware and Aireon using the
time aircraft position alerting to airline operations teams. Iridium NEXT satellite constellation – on a single aircraft
position display.
The solution enhances situational awareness through all
stages of a flight. As well as capturing an aircraft’s real- Dimnik says: “The availability of space-based ADS-B is a
time location, it automatically monitors all flights to ensure fundamental game-changer for airlines. With it, conventional
position reports are received within the ICAO’s 15-minute transmissions from ADS-B Out transponders, already fitted
interval, significantly reducing the manpower otherwise to most commercial aircraft, are captured by receivers on
needed to maintain that level of compliance. new Iridium NEXT satellites, instead of groundbased.
Igor Dimnik, SITA FOR AIRCRAFT Director, Airline OCC “Most significantly, we can track these aircraft from take-off
& Crew Application Portfolio says: “The ICAO’s key initial to touchdown anywhere globally, including remote, oceanic
requirements centered on the need for operators to have or polar regions. The addition of space-based ADS-B means
15 minute flighttracking capabilities anywhere in the world. FlightTracker is also equipped to provide one-minute tracking
SITA FOR AIRCRAFT enables airlines to meet the ICAO’s ahead of 2021, further enhancing operational awareness and
requirements with our AIRCOM® FlightTracker, and its global, control.”
real-time capabilities. Furthermore, we are doing so in line
with our original design objective of harnessing data already
provided by existing aircraft systems.”
While the ICAO flight-tracking requirement came into effect
on 8 November 2018, some individual aviation authorities –
the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and the European
Aviation Safety Agency – passed their own GADSS-compliant
legislation ahead of deadline. AIRCOM® FlightTracker makes
it as easy as possible for airlines to comply with all these
standards.
How SITA FOR AIRCRAFT leads the way in operational connectivity
+400 +15,000 +80%
Airlines using SITA FOR AIRCRAFT SITA FOR AIRCRAFT ADS-B ground Of the world’s airlines use SITA FOR
AIRCOM stations in 180 countries AIRCRAFT AIRCOM to connect every
resource, from pilots to ATC
SITA FOR AIRCRAFT | WHITE PAPER 3OUR SOLUTION
HOW AIRCOM® FLIGHTTRACKER WORKS Dimnik says: “Position data from these various sources
doesn’t always come in sequence, and integrating all that data
Airlines already equipped with SITA FOR AIRCRAFT’s in a seamless way is a complex challenge. FlightAware has
AIRCOM® FlightTracker have found it easy to meet the significant experience in terms of dealing with multiple data
ICAO’s 15-minute requirements. It gives them access to sources, and it manages all the data that we provide, enabling
multiple sources of position data, spanning ADS-B, ACARS us to present it to the airlines in a totally cohesive way, using
and FANS (including ADS-C, AFN and CPDLC). Furthermore, AIRCOM® FlightTracker.
the addition of space-based ADS-B data provides a global
and consistent source of data and far more frequent position “It means that the airlines’ ground staff don’t have to worry
reports to aircraft operators. AIRCOM® FlightTracker about when information is going to come in, and in what
uses these sources to actively track the aircraft, and take sequence. They can just get on with their operations, while
automatic actions to generate another source if otherwise FlightTracker continually monitors their flights.”
unavailable.
Not only does this give peace of mind to airlines that they
can track their aircraft wherever they are in the world,
AIRCOM® FlightTracker also ensures they do not have to “WE’RE INCREASINGLY
worry about the complexity of managing position data from a SEEING AIRLINES ADOPTING
variety of sources. SITA FOR AIRCRAFT has partnered with FLIGHTTRACKER NOT JUST
aviation software company FlightAware to ensure this data is
presented to airlines as effectively and accessibly as possible. TO MEET BEST-PRACTICE
RECOMMENDATIONS, BUT FOR
ITS ADDITIONAL BENEFITS.”
4 SITA FOR AIRCRAFT | WHITE PAPERRESPONSIVE TO CHALLENGES While AIRCOM® FlightTracker has been developed
primarily to enhance aircraft safety, it also offers airlines
FlightTracker offers a range of features to help airlines significant operational benefits, even on flights where no
respond to challenges during a flight, including displaying a alert is issued.
wealth of weather data.
One example would be when an aircraft enters a holding
Dominique El Bez, Vice President, Product & Strategy, says: pattern as it nears its destination airport.
“Undoubtedly the most significant feature of AIRCOM®
FlightTracker is its alerting capability. This ensures that if, El Bez says: “Typically just before its arrival, an aircraft will
for example, an aircraft deviates from its flight plan, or there trigger an ACARS report, telling the ground staff to get ready
is an unexpected change in altitude, the ground staff will be – for example by readying required wheelchairs – as the
notified automatically.” plane is coming in to land. However, quite often, as soon as
that message is sent, Air Traffic Control will put the aircraft
Dimnik adds: “The effort involved in watching each and every into hold.
flight for its full duration is colossal, even for relatively
small fleets. It makes an automated alerting system “With FlightTracker, the tracking data is good enough to see
absolutely crucial, and this is a key differentiator for SITA FOR when the aircraft is going into hold, and it can give position
AIRCRAFT’s AIRCOM® FlightTracker.” updates every couple of minutes.”
Airlines can pre-define the parameters that would cause Dimnik adds: “Airlines, particularly low-cost carriers,
FlightTracker to issue an alert. When an alert is issued, operate a very tight schedule and every minute counts.
the solution helps airlines through its particular internal They cannot afford to waste time preparing for a flight that
escalation processes, by, for example, automatically sending is actually not yet able to land. We are increasingly seeing
the pilot a request for further information, or providing airlines adopting FlightTracker not just to meet best-practice
notifications to other key staff. recommendations, but for its additional benefits.”
SITA FOR AIRCRAFT | WHITE PAPER 5SINGAPORE AIRLINES:
A CASE STUDY
SITA FOR AIRCRAFT has a long-standing them identify the root cause of these alerts, and this
relationship with Singapore Airlines. In 2001, the process also helped us to tweak our understanding of how
airline became the first AIRCOM® Server customer. FlightTracker should work.
“For example, in order to comply with the 15-minute
In 2014, SITA FOR AIRCRAFT held a series of workshops recommendation, we asked aircraft to give their position
with Singapore Airlines to discuss its requirements for flight every 14 minutes. However, with aircraft often using satellite
tracking and alerting technology, ahead of the Civil Aviation communications when they are outside VHF coverage, it can
Authority of Singapore’s 2016 introduction of a requirement sometimes take more than one minute for the aircraft to
that all Singapore-based carriers should be able to track respond.
their aircraft every 15 minutes.
“This delay sometimes caused alerts to be sent to Singapore
Dimnik says: “We talked through the concept of what we were Airlines, which their operations team then needed to escalate.
looking to develop and their requirements, and developed a However, in reality, the only reason for the alert was that it
road map. was taking a while for the aircraft to respond. Our solution
was to instead request position data every 10 minutes.”
“AIRCOM® FlightTracker is a complex product and
continuously evolving. We captured everything that we Every airline has its own internal processes for escalating
discussed with Singapore Airlines in our very first meeting.” an alert, but AIRCOM® FlightTracker automates these
processes. Each stage of escalation, from making an initial
Singapore Airlines’ two key technology requirements
position request via ACARS, through to making a voice call to
were the ability to automatically manage requests for an
the pilot, can be initiated via FlightTracker.
aircraft’s position data, and an alerting capability. The close
working relationship ensured that SITA FOR AIRCRAFT was El Bez says: “We were able to implement this solution for
able to shape AIRCOM® FlightTracker to meet those needs. Singapore Airlines very quickly and install it in the SITA cloud,
so the airline didn’t have to install anything locally.”
AIRCOM® FlightTracker automatically generates alerts
when an aircraft has deviated from its flight plan, or has not AIRCOM® FlightTracker is now deployed across the entire
reported its position for a given period. When airlines first Singapore Airlines group, including Scoot and SilkAir.
use FlightTracker, this can initially lead to a high number of
alerts being generated if the aircraft does not have the right Dimnik adds: “We were able to provide Singapore Airlines
software or avionics to provide position reports. with not just the software, but also the understanding and
support to make it work for them.”
Dimnik says: “We worked with Singapore Airlines to help
6 SITA FOR AIRCRAFT | WHITE PAPERAIRCOM® applications and services
AIRCOM® FlightMessenger AIRCOM® FlightPlanner AIRCOM® Information AIRCOM® Network Services
Helps airlines manage Helps airlines reduce fuel, Services Trusted by the air transport
their air-to-ground time and navigation costs Provides operational data industry for more than 20
data communication in by calculating the most inflight to help cockpit years, AIRCOM® Network
a costeffective way, by efficient and cost-effective crews make informed Services provides aircraft
integrating and translating flight plan, using analysis decisions about a route, data and voice services to
data into a format that of aircraft performance, assess obstructions, and help unlock significant cost
seamlessly feeds into an weather data and route communicate journey savings and efficiencies.
airline’s IT infrastructure. validation. times with passengers and
ground support.
“WE WERE ABLE TO
PROVIDE SINGAPORE
AIRLINES WITH NOT JUST
THE SOFTWARE, BUT ALSO
THE UNDERSTANDING AND
SUPPORT TO MAKE IT WORK
FOR THEM.”
SITA FOR AIRCRAFT | WHITE PAPER 7FOR AIRCRAFT
SITA AT A GLANCE
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