Will Analyze Voice And Data Information To Track Potentially Unsafe Trends

Metro Aviation has selected CAE Flightscape to provide the analytical solution component for its newly established Flight and Operational Quality Assurance program (FOQA). The agreement was announced Thursday.

Metro Aviation recently added to its current operational fleet of 70 EMS aircraft, two EC145 helicopters for Cleveland Metro Life Flight, equipped with the CFDVR system from Eurocopter that will be a data source for FOQA analysis. Metro Aviation, Inc. managing Director, Milton Geltz, started “The CAE Flightscape program will be used to analyze flight data and voice information to identify unsafe trends, to develop corrective safety actions and to monitor the effectiveness of our safety actions.

Of particular interest is the ability to overlay actual flight data from multiple flights against an established baseline flight path.“ Mike Poole, Executive Director & Chief Investigator for CAE Flightscape stated “Metro Aviation is among the first in the air medical transportation operations industry to implement flight data analysis as a proactive safety management system and we applaud their leadership.”

Metro currently operates two EC145s for Cleveland Metro Life Flight with the third expected to enter service in mid October after a joint program on behalf of Metro Aviation and Eurocopter to evaluate the addition of Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)  capability for the EC145. A fourth aircraft is expected to enter operation in March 2010. Metro Aviation, Inc. and CAE Flightscape are also working with Outerlink Corporation to add data retrieved from the Outerlink OVVR (Outerlink Voice and Video Recorder) that Metro Aviation, Inc. aircraft are either equipped with or in the process of being upgraded.

FMI: www.metroaviation.com, www.flightscape.com