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“The expectation today is when you get on any cabin-class airplane, you can do the same things [wirelessly] as you can in your home or office,” explained Britton Wanick, Vice Presi- dent, Marketing and Partnerships for SmartSky Networks, LLC. “It’s the same whether you are on a King Air or a Gulfstream; people take it for granted that they will be connected in the air like they are everywhere else. If they’re not, it can be a problem.”
Of course, today’s “connectivity” means much more than just stream- ing, texting, voice, email, and web surfing.
“Cabin connectivity is about one- third of the total capabilities opera- tors expect from their system today,” Wanick said. “The rest is made up of real-time information for pilots, like flight-planning, en-route weather in- cluding turbulence detection, and the apps on your iPad or EFB (electronic flight bag) that help you communicate with ground operations.”
“Plus, you have the growing need for real-time aircraft health moni- toring – the connected aircraft,” he continued. “There are a growing array of connected capabilities, and they all need a high-speed, low-latency connection to work.”
Survey Says...
In fact, the growing desire to have many of these capabilities in the cock- pit and cabin was why Twin & Tur- bine recently completed surveying its diverse subscriber base on connectiv- ity. The results were most enlight- ening. For example, when asked the question, “If you have/would like to have Internet access on your aircraft, what functions do you need?” The top five answers were:
1. Text/Messaging at 90%
2. Email/Business Applications at
48%
3. Electronic Flight Bag at 43%
4. Voice at 32%
5. Streaming at 17%
That’s pretty impressive data
considering that nearly 80 percent of the survey respondents do not currently have Internet connectivity on their aircraft. But, wait, you ask,
14 • TWIN & TURBINE / October 2022
That’s a great question, so we asked, “If you do not have Internet connec- tivity on your aircraft, why not?” The top three answers were:
access price. So, when owners think of cabin connectivity, they often think of all the reasons why they can’t get it or don’t want it.
Fortunately, though, while the va- riety of uses pilots and passengers have for cabin connectivity has grown exponentially over the past few years, so have the options available for the types of services available to mid- cabin and smaller turbine and turbojet aircraft.
Of course, I’m referring to air-to- ground (ATG) connectivity options. Instead of needing a big antenna to send a signal to a satellite and back again, air-to-ground systems use smaller, belly-mounted antennas to connect to a terrestrial network of receivers/transmitters, just like your cellular service.
That means these ATG systems can be smaller, lighter, easier to install, and considerably less ex- pensive than their satellite-based ancestors. But, again, I don’t get the
1. 2. 3.
Too expensive at 44% Don’t want/need at 20%
No good options/nothing fits my aircraft at 14%
“If connectivity is so great, why don’t more aircraft have it?”
While those are all very valid points, it would have been interest- ing to ask the respondents a follow-up question, “When was the last time they shopped for a connectivity solu- tion for your aircraft?”
One Size Doesn’t Fit All
Not long ago, a satellite system was the only game in town with its complex installation, big anten- na, and even bigger purchase and
PHOTO COURTESY OF MACH POINT ONE AVIATION