Flight is reporting that U.S. light aircraft manufacturer LoPresti Speed Merchants plants to include the iPod into its “Fury” model’s avionics system.
The iPod, which will be outfitted with specialized softwre, will act as a hard disk (or “black box”) and be able to record more than 500 hours of flight time data. Collected data samples can assist with training, system analysis, crash investigation and other purposes. Should the iPod work in the Fury, it could be deployed as a flight data recorder in other models of light aircraft.
In addition to acting as a replacement black box, complete with iPod dock connector, the iPod can function as an audio recorder and capture two-way cockpit and cockpit tower conversations for later analysis.
“This is the perfect marriage of a consumer product to the aviation market” commented R.J. Siegel, vice president of operations for LoPresti. “The iPod has an ideal product spec for aviation. It’s light and small, with very low power requirements and a simple interface. There are thousands of developers passionate about writing applications for the iPod. With such a large body of programmers we literally have no idea what the next great aviation application may be.”
Flight is reporting that U.S. light aircraft manufacturer LoPresti Speed Merchants plants to include the iPod into its “Fury” model’s avionics system.
The iPod, which will be outfitted with specialized softwre, will act as a hard disk (or “black box”) and be able to record more than 500 hours of flight time data. Collected data samples can assist with training, system analysis, crash investigation and other purposes. Should the iPod work in the Fury, it could be deployed as a flight data recorder in other models of light aircraft.
In addition to acting as a replacement black box, complete with iPod dock connector, the iPod can function as an audio recorder and capture two-way cockpit and cockpit tower conversations for later analysis.
“This is the perfect marriage of a consumer product to the aviation market” commented R.J. Siegel, vice president of operations for LoPresti. “The iPod has an ideal product spec for aviation. It’s light and small, with very low power requirements and a simple interface. There are thousands of developers passionate about writing applications for the iPod. With such a large body of programmers we literally have no idea what the next great aviation application may be.”