The State of California has selected TracPlus to provide full flight tracking and voice communication services across the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s (CAL FIRE) airborne firefighting fleet, it was announced on 1 August.
The fleet, consisting of over 50 OV-10A, Bell UH-1H, King Air 200 and S-2T aircraft, will be fitted with Flightcell DZMx dual-mode tracking and voice devices supported through TracPlus’ full suite of end-to-end services.
The equipment will enable CAL FIRE to track its fleet at 15-second intervals over cellular networks and automatically switch to a slower reporting rate over the Iridium satellite network. This upgrade will also deliver a high level of detailed, real-time fire event data from bucket and tank systems.
Chris Hinch, chief innovation officer, TracPlus Global’s, said: ‘This contract builds on seven years of real-world experience in supporting airborne firefighting in Australia at state and federal levels. This decision reflects our unshakable commitment to delivering the very best in mission-critical support services to airborne emergency services world-wide.’
King Air transport
DZMx