Clare aviation facility becomes first to track flights from all around the world
A new aviation facility in Co Clare will allow all flights to be tracked around the world for the first time.
New technology will allow the Irish Aviation Authority use satellite receivers to track the flights from it's North Atlantic Communications Centre in Ballygirreen.
Only 30% of the Earth's surface could be tracked before today.
General Manager of Oceanic Services at the IAA, Seán Patrick, says it's a huge step forward for aircraft navigation:
"We now have multiple satellites orbiting the earth tracking the aircraft in real time," he said.
"The delivery time from getting the data from the aircraft through the satellite system into the controllers is less than two seconds.
"It really is a revolutionary new step forward in terms of looking at surveillance data.
"There would have been a reporting position coming back from the aircraft approximately every 15 minutes, that was when the aircraft were over hostile terrain or more commonly over the oceans, Mr Patrick explained on .
"It really is a revolutionary game changer in terms of safety and innovation for Aireon and the Irish Aviation Authority."
Mr Patrick explained the added safety benefits to this.
"It allows us to have a speedy launch for search and rescue. We've put safety first," he said.
The service will be provided free of charge, he revealed.
"(The) service is funded from ourselves, obviously we're in a commercial venture with Aireon and there are other commercial opportunities associated with that in terms of providing data to data service providers the standard air traffic control procedures, but what we were always insistent upon when we came up with the concept was once we had this data when there was an issue when aircraft were in distress or were in an alerting phase, we would offer this service free of charge and the service will remain free of charge."
