Comments on: Plane navigation http://rossparker.com/2009/06/03/plane-navigation/ Business, finance and economic miscellany Sun, 13 May 2012 18:59:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Ross http://rossparker.com/2009/06/03/plane-navigation/#comment-13 Ross Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:16:47 +0000 http://www.rossparker.com/?p=254#comment-13 I am not sure about the non-trivial point, Marcus. When I was flying to and fro from the Dominican Republic on an Iberian A330, they had constant mid-Atlantic in-flight wifi. Holding my PDA to the window, I could pick up GPS signals (which I did, to allay boredom). Sending that GPS data to Google Latitude or Yahoo's FireEagle over the in-flight wifi would have been incredibly easy. If my £350rrp XDA Orbit (built in 2006, I believe) can do this, why not a multi-million dollar aircraft? I am not sure about the non-trivial point, Marcus. When I was flying to and fro from the Dominican Republic on an Iberian A330, they had constant mid-Atlantic in-flight wifi. Holding my PDA to the window, I could pick up GPS signals (which I did, to allay boredom). Sending that GPS data to Google Latitude or Yahoo’s FireEagle over the in-flight wifi would have been incredibly easy. If my £350rrp XDA Orbit (built in 2006, I believe) can do this, why not a multi-million dollar aircraft?

]]> By: Marcus http://rossparker.com/2009/06/03/plane-navigation/#comment-12 Marcus Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:43:10 +0000 http://www.rossparker.com/?p=254#comment-12 Well the plane most likely had GPS onboard, but transmitting that position to a base station automatically is non-trivial, so they tend to rely on pilots telling controllers where they are, generally it works. What is most odd about this one is that the pilots didn't have time/the ability to radio a mayday. Well the plane most likely had GPS onboard, but transmitting that position to a base station automatically is non-trivial, so they tend to rely on pilots telling controllers where they are, generally it works. What is most odd about this one is that the pilots didn’t have time/the ability to radio a mayday.

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