Inmarsat has announced that FLYHT Aerospace Solutions, which provides real-time aircraft intelligence and cockpit solutions, is the first partner for its recently-launched Aviation Certified Application Provider (CAP) Programme.
The Aviation CAP Programme provides a catalogue of connected safety and operations applications. By testing, optimising and certifying third-party applications and services for use on Inmarsat’s SB-S platform, airlines can focus on the benefits of digitisation without having to worry about integration risks. SB-S entered commercial service last month as the first and only global aviation broadband solution for operations and safety communications, providing airlines worldwide with unparalleled, secure visibility into their operations.
FLYHT’s Automated Flight Information Reporting System (AFIRSTM) received CAP accreditation from Inmarsat after successfully demonstrating that it could stream large amounts of flight data in real-time from an aircraft to the ground, using SB-S.
This enables advanced predictive maintenance and quality assurance programmes to boost operational efficiency. In addition, FLYHT’s UpTime™ Cloud user interface provides operators with greater situational awareness of their aircraft through an Aircraft Situational Display and paves the way for future cloud-based flight recorder data recovery.
By using AFIRS over SB-S, airlines can benefit from real-time aircraft diagnostics and performance monitoring to reduce turnaround times, and receive vital information to support critical decision-making when aircraft diversions must be considered.
It also provides airlines with an alternative means of accessing and utilising flight data traditionally recorded by physical devices aboard the aircraft in the form of Flight Data Recorders (FDR) and Quick Access Recorders (QAR). Sending this data to the ground in real-time allows data to be stored in a secure facility and location (Black Box in the Cloud), where it can be accessed immediately in case of an incident. This opens up a very simple and cost-effective way to comply with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s imminent new safety requirements on flight recorder data recovery.