Clare HQ for aircraft tracking from space

A centre that will be able to track aircraft in distress from space will be based at an Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) facility in Co Clare.

It has been confirmed the Aireon Aircraft Locating and Emergency Response Tracking (Aireon Alert) will be managed from the IAA’s North Atlantic Communications Centre in Ballygirreen, near Newmarket on Fergus.

Aerion, based in North Virginia in the US, is developing the world’s first space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance — Broadcast (ADS–B) global air traffic surveillance system which, it’s hoped, will eliminate the issue of ‘losing’ an aircraft like Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared last March.