Cabin Interior and Electronics
Send Solutions Unveils Low-cost Airborne Texting
AirText will offer texting via Iridium satcom for five cents per message.
The Airtext satcom messaging system is intended for aircraft from small turboprops to light business jets. (Photo: Matt Thurber)
The Airtext satcom messaging system is intended for aircraft from small turboprops to light business jets. (Photo: Matt Thurber)

At the AEA Convention new-products introduction session yesterday, Send Solutions president David Gray unveiled the company’s low-cost Airtext Iridium satcom text messaging system for aircraft. Priced at $9,750, Airtext is a permanently installed Iridium system that should receive its first FAA supplemental type certificate in May on a Cessna Citation X, according to Gray. More airplanes will be added to the STC following that certification, and the target market is owner-flown turboprops through light jets.

Airtext is designed solely for texting via the Iridium network, although once the faster Iridium Next begins service, Send Solutions will add more features, Gray explained, because the system is already fitted with two Arinc 429 and two CAN bus connections, one serial port and three discretes. 

In this article