Victoria, BC and Camarillo, CA— February 24, 2014 — Latitude Technologies, the premier global supplier of flight data monitoring, flight following, and Satcom solutions for regional fleet operators, and AKV Inc., a leading manufacturer of helicopter engine cycle counters, have jointly announced a technical and business development partnership between the companies.
AKV and Latitude will share in development of technical interfaces between AKV’s ETM1000 Exceedance and Trend Monitor and Latitude’s award-winning IONode ION100 lightweight flight data recorder. This will enable the engine condition data captured by the ETM1000 to be recorded and automatically forwarded by the IONode ION100 to multiple stakeholders of the operator of the aircraft. Operators will benefit from much quicker access to engine condition data, enabling more timely engine trend analysis and engine maintenance planning.
AKV President, Jonathan Gunn, had these comments about the Latitude partnership, “In the past, Mark Insley (Latitude President) and I had discussed the benefits of combining our technologies and what that would mean for operators. We both realized the missing piece of the puzzle was delivering the real time engine data collected by the ETM1000. From my end, it was being able to synchronize our engine data with the Latitude FDM system as well as transmitting events through a Satellite communications device. In combining the IONode ION100 and ETM1000 technologies, engine trend data along with recorded events (exceedances) can now be seamlessly synchronized and displayed with Latitude’s post-flight analytical software to provide a full and accurate picture of a helicopter’s operation. I am confident that this is what operators are looking for and I am glad to be part of the solution.”
Latitude President, Mark Insley, in sharing today’s announcement, added, “It's all about automation and timeliness. Our ability to grab the ETM1000 engine condition data on a continuous basis, monitor the data for inflight events, and efficiently deliver the data to the fleet’s maintenance and operations teams is what sets Latitude’s end-to-end FDM system apart. Our customers were telling us that they wanted to monitor more than flight behavior data and that engine condition data is vital to aircraft maintenance and flight safety. And, of course, we will continue to work with our customers to capture and process other mission-specific data types simply because it's what we enjoy doing.”
About AKV Inc.
AKV Inc., headquarterd at the Camarillo Airport (KCMA), Camarillo, California, specializes in the design and manufacture of engine cycle counters as well as the ETM1000 exceedance and trend monitoring system for the helicopter industry. The current engine cycle counter product line supports the AS350, Bell Mediums and BK117 (EC145) and AS332L Super Puma. All of the AKV cycle counters are field programmable which greatly eases the installation in existing aircraft by allowing current cycle accumulation's as well as flight and engine runs times for the cycle counter to be updated.
For more information about AKV Inc., and their certified engine condition monitoring products, visit http://www.akvinc.com or call 1-805-437-1739.
About Latitude Technologies
Latitude Technologies Corp., headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia, is a vertically integrated manufacturer and provider of flight data, flight following, and satellite communications equipment and services. Latitude’s SkyNode® products are the most versatile and economical-to-operate aeronautical communication devices in the world. The company’s IONode™ is the industry’s first lightweight flight data recorder and advanced data acquisition unit, capable of real-time event and exceedance alerts and automated post-flight wireless data transfer. SkyNode and IONode STCs are available for hundreds of airframe types. Latitude provides reliable and secure aviation data and communication options for crew safety, fleet logistics, and operations and maintenance efficiency with WebSentinel™ flight data management platform for desktops, dispatch centers, and mobile devices.
For more information about Latitude’s flight data and satcom solutions, visit www.latitudetech.com or call 1-888-966-5599.
