Tracking System Credited With Saving Life of Student Pilot

25 May 2009

A New Zealand developed tracking service has been credited by a leading flight school with potentially saving a student's life.

John Penno, chief flying instructor of Mainland Air, based in Dunedin, confirmed that one of its students had become lost while flying in Central Otago earlier this month.

"A student from our international course was flying from Dunedin to Queenstown on a solo cross country navigation exercise, during which he became lost.

"Using TracPlus, we can track the location of our training aircraft on our office computer. We could see he was having difficulty and were able to direct him towards Queenstown."

When the student became lost a second time, Mainland flight instructors guided him back to Dunedin, again using the tracking service. When the pilot landed, he was badly shaken and distressed.

"There is no question that TracPlus allowed us to avoid a tragic outcome in this situation," said Penno. "With no radar coverage south of Canterbury, the ability to see where our aircraft are, wherever they are, as in this case, is a life saver."

TracPlus Global provides real time global tracking, sensor monitoring and data analysis services to private, business, military and government organizations worldwide.

 

For more information, please contact:

Stuart Campbell
TracPlus Global Ltd
T +64 3 477 8656
M +64 212 432 2498
E stuart.campbell@tracplus.com