Avionics
Pilots, Maintenance Chiefs, Beancounters Love Connected Aircraft
With as much as 844 terabits of data per 12 flight hours, there is great potential for big data to benefit modern aircraft operations.
Just before the Paris Air Show, two AIN editors got to take a ride on Honeywell’s Connected Aircraft test bed. The hard working Boeing 757 is here at Le Bourget on the static display line.
Just before the Paris Air Show, two AIN editors got to take a ride on Honeywell’s Connected Aircraft test bed. The hard working Boeing 757 is here at Le Bourget on the static display line.

Connectivity for aircraft started with hand signals from one Wright brother to the other. One hundred years ago, in 1917, AT&T manufactured the first American air-to-ground radio capable of transmitting voice. Europe had Ma Bell beat by two years, having equipped some observation aircraft with Marconi two-way voice radios, during the second year of World War I. Air-to-ground Morse code communication was available as early as 1912—less than 10 years after the Wright Brothers’ first flight of a manned aircraft. And even today, pilots learn the codes air traffic tower controllers use for light signals in the event of radio failure.

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