Company Provides Service To The Offshore Oil And Gas Industry

Becker Avionics' new airborne BD406 Beacon Decoder has been selected by Era Helicopters LLC for their Search and Rescue and Emergency Medical Services (SAR/EMS) AW139 helicopter fleet. Era Helicopters offers 24-hour FAA-approved, SAR/EMS capabilities and other services to offshore oil and gas companies located in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as advanced life support paramedic resources.

According to Becker Avionics, BD406 provides a unique tool for SAR organizations on land, on water and in the air. The product can be used in a fixed installation or as a portable receiver developed specifically to decode and navigate to 406 MHz Cospas-Sarsat capable beacons (PLB's, SPLB's, ELT's or EPIRB's), transmitting the 406 MHz signal with GPS information. The beacon provides the ability to directly decode the transmitted GPS location of a 406 MHz beacon data burst at long distances. Era Helicopters is the first SAR/EMS operator to adopt the new BD406 Beacon Decoder, which will help their company during emergency responses to ensure the highest standard in helicopter SAR/EMS services in the Gulf of Mexico.
 
Brett Gardner, Director of Sales and Marketing stated, "The need to detect and locate downed aircrew, mariners and adventurers has always existed. Not being able to accurately pin-point both aircraft and crew can sometimes result in a lengthy and costly search operations, which can typically engage a number of Search and Rescue (SAR) assets. The new BD406 provides an immense improvement in identifying the precise location of a distress beacon when compared to older direction finding systems, in addition to a much lower hardware cost." He continued, "With the increased population of 406 MHz beacons worldwide, including those with embedded GPS, there exists an urgent requirement for land or airborne SAR organizations, to be able to utilize their available rescue resources more effectively. The BD406 allows direct, real-time reception of the Beacon GPS Position during execution of a rescue mission. Due to its lightweight and compact size, the Becker BD406 offers maximum flexibility for installation, while providing the latest geo-location technology."

The Becker BD406 consists of a cockpit mounted 2.25" version, or a mobile battery-powered portable unit. The decoded GPS position is not degraded by poor RF signal quality and therefore improves the navigation accuracy and reliability during rescue missions. The decoder can display location data on it's own self-contained LCD display, or on a cockpit display or integrated aircraft EFIS display, via the ARINC 429 output, while also displaying the bearing to the selected beacon. The BD406 can track and identify up to 49 individual beacon codes, and will display the 15 digit C/S Hex ID Code to enable rescue services to effectively allocate resources accordingly in trying to find the distress beacon.

FMI: www.beckerusa.com