Cockpit gadget takes flight

John Wylie sold to the US.

A Nelson entrepreneur, whose gadget has made life in the cockpit easier for US Air Force pilots, has his sights set on the European aviation market.

John Wylie is the managing director of Flightcell International, which makes a device called the Flightcell.

It looks like little more than a box with wires sticking out. But it is a very clever box - one that allows pilots to use a satellite phone, cellphone or any other communications device hands free, in a noisy cockpit.

His Flightcell junction box allows a pilot to use the standard headphones to talk on the phone. Pilots can call whoever they want, without using the radio and without taking a flight helmet or headphones off. And before you think "surely that's against the rules" - well it isn't. Cellphones have been used by pilots in light planes ever since they became available and there is no rule banning their use. Passengers on commercial jets are told by the airline not to use cellphones, but plane and helicopter pilots are allowed to.

One of Wylie's customers is an aerobatic pilot in Australia, who uses the Flightcell to broadcast flight commentary via cellphone through to the public address system at public airshows.

Customers in the New Zealand aviation sector also include the agricultural sector, where there were "real benefits in improved communications between farmers and pilots".

Wylie is a helicopter pilot and found it frustrating he could not use his cellphone while out flying. So he paid an electronics engineer friend to build a prototype of the Flightcell, before starting up a business making about 10 at a time.

Flightcell has only two full-time staff and has contracted a small Christchurch company to make the devices. By 2003, it was making around 300 units a year.

Now with help from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Flightcell has formed an alliance with the US military, which last year led to an order for 900 devices. Wylie said the Government body, by helping fund a trip to the US, made the difference in winning their orders with the US Air Force.

Wyllie says the number of older aircraft in its fleet, including big transport planes, means it will cost a fortune to install modern satellite communication systems, whereas his device allows pilots to use new satellite phones without the need for major upgrades.

A new, smaller and cheaper model of the Flightcell, which sells for about half the usual $800, is being sold and will be displayed at a big airshow in Germany in April.

Flightcell has increased annual turnover from $300,000 two years ago to just under $1 million. Wylie, his co-owning wife and another business partner are on the hunt for an investor to help take the company to the next level - the plan is for a $15 million turnover in five years.