Appareo Systems is here promoting its Alerts (aircraft logging and event recording for training and safety) flight data monitoring solution. The system uses an onboard, lightweight camera and accompanying sensors to allow users to replay flight parameters recorded during the flight and review deviations from company and regulatory standards. The main component of the Alerts system, the Vision 1000 hardware, is offered as standard equipment on a growing number of helicopters, notably Airbus Helicopters light singles and twins. The next STC should be for the Bell 407 single.
“The only thing Vision 1000 needs from the aircraft is power,” sales manager Casey DeLanghe told AIN. The unit can be fitted under the cockpit's ceiling and includes a GPS receiver and electronic gyroscopes and accelerometers, as well as a microphone and high-resolution camera. The Vision 1000’s small size makes it easy to install, according to the company.
Flight data, images (at four frames per second) and audio are recorded both on an SD card and an internal crash-hardened memory module. The SD card can store up to four hours of imagery and audio and 200 hours of flight data. The internal memory is limited to two hours of images and audio but has the same capacity as the SD card for flight data.
The typical use, DeLanghe explained, is replaying synchronized flight data, audio and images immediately after a flight. To spot deviations from standard operating procedures or unwanted trends, trigger events are customizable. “On an image, you can zoom in on an instrument,” DeLanghe noted. Applications range from maintenance to accident analysis and improving pilot proficiency.
Asked about privacy concerns, DeLanghe emphasized that organizations using Vision 1000 and Alerts should have a “just culture” and use established best practices. “In our servers, the information is de-identified,” he added. It can be re-identified at the operator’s level through dispatch records, in case of a serious deviation.
The Vision 1000 unit sells for “under $10,000,” DeLanghe said.
On the other end of the scale are Appareo’s Stratus 1 and 2 portable ADS-B receivers, also on display at the company’s Heli-Expo booth. The Stratus units are designed to work with the ForeFlight Mobile iPhone/iPad app. Both the Stratus 1 and 2 are equipped with a GPS receiver, which provides position information to the ForeFlight app, and a dual-band ADS-B receiver, which receives free weather and traffic information. The traffic capabilities include reception of broadcasts from ADS-B-OUT-equipped aircraft, on both ADS-B frequencies (1090 and 978 MHz) for the Stratus 2 and 978 MHz for Stratus 1. The Stratus 2 adds AHRS sensors that deliver attitude information to ForeFlight Mobile’s synthetic vision display. ForeFlight itself offers a flight-data recording feature, and a recent firmware upgrade to Stratus 2 enables that device’s own recording functions. Up to 20 hours of GPS and AHRS data can be stored. ForeFlight is available for $149.99/year plus $25 for synthetic vision. Stratus 1 costs $499 and Stratus 2 $899.