News
iPod to be brain of ‘black box’ for airplanes
Light aircraft maker LoPresti has announced a new cockpit device that uses an iPod as a flight data recorder, also known as a “black box.” The iPod-powered device will be able to record over 500 hours of flight time data in LoPresti’s Fury piston airplane. The device will also used to capture two-way cockpit conversation and communication with air traffic control.
“This is the perfect marriage of a consumer product to the aviation market,” says LoPresti VP of operations, RJ Siegel. “The iPod has an ideal product spec for aviation. It’s light and small, with very low power requirements and a simple interface. There are thousands of developers passionate about writing applications for the iPod. With such a large body of programmers we literally have no idea what the next great aviation application may be.”
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1
Great!
A week ago I posted in the forums about building a Nano into an RC glider and now these guys copy me.
Posted by john Stanley on February 22, 2007 at 9:34 AM (PDT)
2
I can’t really see an iPod as an alternative to a traditional black box in any sort of way. I really doubt an iPod is any more rugged or reliable, and the hard drive based iPods are definitely out of the picture, although the flash based Nano’s might have a chance of surviving a crash.
Posted by Alan on February 22, 2007 at 1:54 PM (PDT)
3
Talk about the ultimate iPod accessory: A plane!
Posted by Michael on February 22, 2007 at 3:40 PM (PDT)
4
Then why do they make me shut off my iPod during takeoff and landing? :B
Posted by Me on February 22, 2007 at 4:07 PM (PDT)
5
Alan-
Currently small aircraft do not have a “black box”, so this is not an “alternative”, it is a solution as of now. And most likely the iPod is not just sitting on the seat next to the pilot. It will be wrapped in a fireproof/crash resistant box, much like the ones the airlines use.
Posted by aaron on February 22, 2007 at 4:34 PM (PDT)
6
Why don’t they just make the entire plane out of that black box stuff?
Posted by The Soup Nazi on February 22, 2007 at 5:45 PM (PDT)
7
Thank god they’re not using a Zune!
Posted by Sb on February 22, 2007 at 7:33 PM (PDT)
8
nazi,
you are asking for a flying tank…i supposed that is too heavy to take off
Posted by lok cheung on February 22, 2007 at 10:20 PM (PDT)
9
So instead of using a 1.8” 80gb hard drive which retails for less then $180 you can use your $350 ipod? I doubt your going to be able to listen to your music through the headset as it’s recording all the flight data.
Posted by Jesse on February 23, 2007 at 9:25 PM (PDT)
10
Doubt it would be reliable enough/cheap enough. Even with the programmer-base for iPods, there’s no real reason to hack a consumer product when you want a rugged embedded system. There’d be nothing to gain and a lot to lose.
Posted by Woofb on February 26, 2007 at 10:26 AM (PDT)
11
If an iPod nano can barely survive the rigors of the typical person’s POCKET for a few days, what’s going to happen when one slams into a mountain at 180 mph? Armor or not, it’s going to have issues.
Look here…
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/3
If a flash based iPod can’t survive a 40 foot fall, how’s it going to do falling from 14,000 feet?
Posted by Matt on February 27, 2007 at 1:42 PM (PDT)