High interest in plane tracking device 

A group of inventive Kiwis have come up with a quicker way of finding missing aircraft - a system which could have helped in hunts like the one for billionaire adventurer Steve Fossett.

And the device has already led to a potentially lucrative deal with the world's largest light plane company, Cessna.

In the back blocks of Manawatu's Pohangina Valley, Don Sandbrook decided to invent a new aircraft tracking system.

"It's a safety device so that if an aircraft crashes or goes missing it's leaving a breadcrumb trail of where it's been while it's been a healthy aircraft," says Sandbrook.

The palm-sized device, called Spidertracks , was inspired by the frustrating 17 day search three years ago for liquor magnate Michael Erceg.

His crashed helicopter could not be found because its emergency locator beacon was destroyed.

"I decided that it would be smart if we could put a GPS and satellite antenna and satellite modem all in one little box that we could pop on the dash of an aircraft and track it anywhere in the world," says Sandbrook.

Unlike other, bulkier, systems which rely on patchy cellphone coverage, Spidertracks sends a GPS signal to the iridium satellite network which transmits the aircraft's position in real time to Google Earth Maps.  Now Cessna has agreed to distribute the system worldwide.

"It's endorsement and recognition by Cessna that Spidertracks is a good product. They've tested it for eight months, and now they're backing it and selling it around the world, so we're really rapt about that," marketing manager Rachel Donald says.

Spidertracks has also gained local recognition as the supreme winner at the recent Manawatu Business Awards.

Massey University graduate, James McCarthy, 24, is one of three shareholders and directors who provided the engineering know how.

"The key to this is speed to market. We've got to be out there first and getting to as many people as we can so that we can build that brand," McCarthy says.

And it not just about tracking aircraft. The $3000 device can be fitted to any vehicle or ship, or even carried by hunters or climbers in case they get lost or hurt.