Avionics News May 2013 - 43

WEBSITE: www.skytrac.ca
FACILITIES: Facility in Kelowna includes
in-house capabilities for engineering,
manufacturing and repairs.

WHAT THEY DO: SkyTrac Systems provides
satellite-based aircraft flight following and
communications solutions.

EMPLOYEES: 45
FOUNDED: By two bush pilots in 1986
AEA MEMBER SINCE: 2012

SkyTrac's new ISAT-200A is a fully featured
flight data management and satcom system.

radioing in their position every
15 minutes,” Nordine said.
“The terrain of British
Columbia prevents radio
and cell coverage, so a
satellite-based solution
was born. The products
have evolved throughout
the years to include basic
flight following to trend
monitoring and exceedance
detection.”
SkyTrac’s lineup of
flight following and satellite
communications solutions
include the portable, data-only
DSAT-300, a fully installed
ISAT-200 that is voice and data
capable, and the new ISAT200A, which incorporates flight
data monitoring capabilities,
such as a built-in accelerometer
and exceedance reporting.
“All aspects of the company,
including software and hardware engineering,
manufacturing and repairs, are done in-house at our
facility in Kelowna,” Nordine said.
Using the Iridium satellite network, SkyTrac’s solutions
offer two-way voice communication between the aircraft and
the ground, two-way messaging, flight following using GPSbased position reporting, aircraft tracking and mapping, and
operational reports.
“SkyTrac Systems prides itself on its client service and
responsiveness to clients’ needs,” Nordine said. “As all of
our engineering, software development and manufacturing
is done in-house, we have the ability to respond quickly to
market changes and client requests. We have an in-house

client support department that will
personally answer the phone
between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. PDT,
and we provide 24-hour data
support.”
Tracking in Real-time
Operators flying in harsh,
remote environments on every
continent depend on SkyTrac’s
solutions.
The Canadian Coast Guard
uses the company’s technology
to track its 22 helicopters and 17
helicopter-capable ships. Canada’s
Harbour Air and Westcoast Air, the
world’s largest seaplane airline, use
SkyTrac’s DSAT-300 portable flight
following system. The real-time
tracking allows the airline to more
easily schedule maintenance for its
fleet of seaplanes.
Even American political elections
have been aided by SkyTrac’s technology.
During the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign, law
enforcement agencies and other departments needed
to monitor the temporary flight restrictions in place to
accommodate the candidates’ movements across the country.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department used SkyWeb,
SkyTrac’s asset management program, to ensure their aircraft
avoided TFRs.
During the Republican National Convention in Tampa,
Fla., the air ambulance company Air Evac Lifeteam also
used SkyWeb to monitor TFRs as well as the inclement
weather from Hurricane Isaac to safely guide its fleet of
Continued on following page

avionics news

•

may

2013

http://www.skytrac.ca

Avionics News May 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News May 2013