Fast Company 4/30/2017 By Steven Melendez
Three years after the mystery of MH370, sat-phone pioneer Iridium is betting that its network can avoid future disappearances and make flight paths more efficient.
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has become the most expensive aviation hunt in history, yet the fate of the plane and the 239 people onboard has never been determined since it disappeared in 2014.
In an effort to prevent that from happening again, the carrier announced last week that it will be the first airline customer of a new service that will provide up-to-the-minute tracking of aircraft around the world, even when they’re far from land or otherwise out of range of traditional radar. The tracking system, provided by a company called Aireon, will allow airlines like Malaysia and air traffic controllers to receive a steady stream of aircraft position data wherever they are on earth—not from receivers on the ground, but from satellites.
“When aircraft fly over the oceans, over remote airspace, you would think we would have surveillance,” says Don Thoma, CEO of the McLean, Virginia-based company. But that’s simply not true for 70% of the planet, due to coverage limitations of current tracking technology, he says. Over oceans or polar regions, pilots must periodically radio their locations to air traffic controllers. “We will now provide the ability of air traffic control operations to see their aircraft wherever they operate,” says Thoma.
More:
https://www.fastcompany.com/40410519/airplane-tracking-iridium-aireon-satellites-ads-bSpaceX Launches 10 More Iridium Satellites Which Will Soon Track Aircraft in Real Timehttp://ftnews.firetrench.com/2017/10/spacex-launches-10-more-iridium-satellites-which-will-soon-track-aircraft-in-real-time/
