Australia's National Aerial Firefighting Centre (NAFC) has approved the Spidertracks aircraft tracking system for aerial firefighting operations in Australia.
Spidertracks, a Kiwi company, confirmed today that its Spidertracks system meets the criteria to provide tracking services for the NAFC.
Spidertracks’ Australian Sales Manager Luke McCarthy says the decision means that Spidertracks can be used by aerial firefighting companies in Australia to send tracking data to the NAFC.
“There has been some confusion and misinformation in the firefighting community about what tracking systems can be used, but Spidertracks is definitely accepted by the NAFC,” McCarthy explains.
“We wanted to clear up any confusion there is in the industry; Spidertracks is and will continue to be compatible with NAFC’s internal system, giving our customers all the benefits Spidertracks offers while meeting their flight following requirement for NAFC.”
Using the system, Spidertracks customers can feed the tracking data into NAFC’s central tracking system, where NAFC staff are able to view all aircraft, with various tracking units on board, while they are engaged in firefighting. Spidertracks clients are also able to view their tracks internally online via the Spidertracks’ tracking site.
Spidertracks’ satellite texting capability also meets the NAFC’s desire to include SMS messaging capability and event logging as part of its system in the future.
Formed in July 2003 as a collaborative effort by Australia’s States and Territories, the NAFC provides a cooperative national arrangement for combating bushfires and employs a fleet of highly specialised firefighting aircraft that are readily available to be deployed nationwide.
(Spidertracks)
