“Apple Computer’s popular iPod music player could become a flight data recorder (FDR) following an announcement by US light aircraft manufacturer LoPresti SpeedMerchants to introduce the device in the cockpit of its Fury piston aircraft,” Justin Wastnage reports for Flightglobal.com.
Wastnage reports, “The company says it plans the ‘full integration of the iPod into the Fury’s avionics systems.’ The iconic ‘white box’ iPod will serve as a digital data recorder, nicknamed ‘black boxes’ by the general media. The iPod, with suitable software, acts as a hard disk with the ability to record over 500h of flight time data.”
“It was not immediately clear from the company’s statement which parameters would be recorded and for what purpose. Recorders are currently used to collect data for maintenance purposes through system monitoring, for post-flight analysis in training and safety-monitoring, and, when suitably protected, for crash investigation,” Wastnage reports.
Wastnage reports, “Vero Beach, Florida-based LoPresti said, ‘The iPod becomes the first truly portable, personal flight recorder with a huge recording capacity. This is a watershed technology for aviation,’ says LoPresti vice president of operations, RJ Siegel, ‘and we are delighted to be the first to bring it to market.’ The Fury will prove the concept, but once certificated, the iPod FDR could be deployed on other light aircraft.”
Full article here.
[Attribution: MacNN]
The software: iCrash!
MW – “down”… ominous!
I wonder what on earth it was about the iPod that got their attention versus just a plain old portable hard drive.
I can just see it now, pulling one of these out of a downed plane and the investigator being upset because it got scratched.
They were all set to use a Zune, but testing revealed that the place couldn’t take off due to the excessive weight.
Audiobook: “So, you want to be a pilot.”
>Brad Kelly
Because it needs an OS and computer to run software. Flight recorders are not just hard drives. Read the orginal article for details.
Im having an iPod implanted as an artificial heart.
Man, you talk about blood on the Clickwheel…
Brad Kelley,
that’s a good question.
You could theoretically read the data on the iPod’s screen without plugging it in to a computer, but I don’t know what advantage that would be.
It must have something to do with the software already on it and perhaps the size and weight.
Come on, they’re good but not that good. I hardly think they’re that indestructable. It’s like what Microsoft said the other day about Vista running life support machines or whatever.
Think,
thanks, our posts crossed.
Meanwhile, the Zune is being tested in funeral homes as a coffin monitor. That way the dead can watch the dead. Funeral directors so far are grateful.
I would’ve thought they would use the Nano for its flash drive, but the article says ‘white box’. I guess they are not afraid of the hard drive crashing…
The article doesn’t really say much about the details, but my understanding of the iPod ecosystem is such that private companies and individuals can’t actually write software that runs on it per se. It’s a closed system. Someone jump in if I’m mistaken. It seems like they are probably simply going to offer folks who have iPods a dock connector so they can use it like a normal iPod, but the avionics system will also be able to write flight data and cockpit audio to the drive just like it was a hard drive. I don’t think anything in the article contradicts this, and it makes more sense to my version of reality. =)
@ Jack Simon…
Tx for bringing that to general attention!
All I can say is How do Microsoft execs sleep at night?
Yeah, using a hard drive is not good. That’s one reason alot of iPods crap out early, particularly those used by runners.
During takeoff you hear….
“lLeaving on a jet plane
Don’t kow when I’ll be back again……..
They were going to use a Zune but it wold only start recording if you inserted 79 points.
The Air Force requested the U2 Special Edition
Since black box is actually red in airplanes it has to the iPod nano (product)red they will be using
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How did Cisco get shafted? The only reason for them to be interested in the iPhone name was to ride the coat tails of the popular Apple branding. Cisco has only gained from this fiasco. If anything, they have been doing the shafting by sniping an obvious Apple brand name for profit.
FAA regulations are pretty tight on these sort of things. The Ipods will probably be used in parallel with conventional black box technology until it is proven equal to or better than what is currently available. Apple pioneered the park before crash hard drive system in it’s portables about 5 to 6 years ago which became standard in ipods. I suspect due to it’s miniscule volumetric foot print and high capacity an ipod could collect all instrumentation and voice cockpit data in higher detail than current systems and can easily be ruggedized beyond FAA requirements without a drastic increase in the volumetric foot print.
the real reason they will not be using it is because it fills the cabin with the ominous smell of Shit.
I can just see it now. After a plane crash, the FAA crash team all huddled around a pink nano.
“certificated” ???
Someone needs to buy a dictionary and learn how to spell Certified. Reads like a 10 year old rapper wrote it.