Ming the Mechanic:
Broadband in planes and trains

The NewsLog of Flemming Funch
 Broadband in planes and trains2003-02-17 23:59
2 comments
picture by Flemming Funch

Boeing are doing successful tests of planes with broadband Internet connections. 20-Mbit/second satellite connection for each plane, with ethernet by each seat. Still just a test, but they hope to install it more widely in 2004.

Thomas Madsen-Mygdal mentioned a little while ago that the linx train between Copenhagen and Gothenburg is the first train with a broadband connection.

What is interesting for both is not just that passengers can access the net, but also that it opens new possibilities for the crew, and better interactivity with the surrounding world. The train, for example, might be better at reporting its own position, and the crews in the planes might be more able to do their own flight planning.


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2 comments

18 Feb 2003 @ 11:52 by sharie : What possiblities for the crew?
So the passengers could say where they want to go, what stops they want?

I came upon some info awhile back about *skysuits*... you spread your arms and legs and the suit creates wings, which helps keep the skydiver in flight, rather than in freefall. After jumping from the plane, skydivers could fly up to five miles. So I was thinking, we could send up planes flying cross-continent, and when you approach your destination, you just jump and your skysuit - and parachute! - helps you land where you want to go. This would save a fortune in take-off and landings, and in airport terminals, as you'd need only a few... and then I thought skysuits would be equipped with with hi-tech voice-activated palmcorders (something similar to them, only mounted on your forearm) with internet access...

and then I put these ideas into a Screenplay for a Motion Picture, and made the main character a professional woman who happened to be brilliant... who created this whole idea, and it's rather involved (won't go into details here) but it was a lot of fun to create this futuristic idea... just a year or two in the future...

I'm always developing ideas for my screenplays. I need to get an agent.  



18 Feb 2003 @ 12:51 by ming : Skysuits
I'll offer my mother-in-law as a test pilot. That's a fun idea, really.  


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