Hughes App Highlights Slacklines in Route Planning

Hughes Aerospace has added Slackline Awareness to its Hughes Flight Intelligence platform, which is available in the free Hughes Apple iOS app. It provides access to more than 7,000 known and reported slackline locations worldwide to help pilots evaluate slackline risks during preflight planning and moving-map route analysis.

Slacklines are made of high-strength webbing suspended between trees, poles, towers, or other structures, according to Hughes Aerospace, and they “are often nearly invisible from the air and can present a significant hazard during low-altitude operations.” A helicopter crashed in Arizona after hitting a slackline whose location had been posted in a notam, but it was undetermined whether the pilot saw the notice.

Hughes Flight Intelligence provides a variety of information in the app, including automated route analysis; georeferenced moving maps with VFR, IFR, and terminal procedure charts; real-time weather; notams for departure, destination, and planned route; FAA camera access; night-vision goggle planning information; icing forecasts; flight recording and playback; SMS reporting; and helicopter procedures.

“Every flight begins with decisions,” said Chris Baur, pilot and Hughes Aerospace CEO, as well as co-chair of the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team. “Hughes Flight Intelligence was built by pilots to bring the critical information needed for safe flight into one place. Every enhancement we develop has one purpose—to help pilots identify hazards sooner, better understand risk, and return home safely after every flight.”