The Aerodynamics of Airborne TV
Television is just television on the ground, but up in the air, real-time TV reception is a minor miracle. It has been less than 20 months, in fact, since they figured out how to get broadcast TV reception on board aircraft.
The basic technology isn’t new: the plane merely has to have a dish antenna tuned to a broadcast satellite. But while it is easy to strap a 9-inch dish to a chimney for home reception, getting one to function while perched atop a jet that’s blasting through the heavens at 500 mph is something else again.
The dynamics--aero and otherwise--were figured out by Simi Valley antenna designer Datron/Transco Inc. and two Southern California airborne entertainment and information systems companies working independently of each other.
Only four sales have been made so far, the first for a Delta Air Lines passenger jet and the others for business jets.
The Delta jet’s system was installed in late 1996 and still is being tested. It was jointly designed by Datron/Transco and the former Hughes Avicom aircraft entertainment systems unit in Pomona, a business now owned by Costa Mesa-based Rockwell International Corp.
Airshow, a Tustin company, made the other sales for private business jets. The system, which also uses a Datron/Transco antenna, enables passengers to watch anything from Mr. Rogers to Mr. Rukeyser as they wing their way from meeting to meeting.
Airshow’s president, Dennis Ferguson, figures that there’s a potential $2.5-billion market for airborne television systems in the private jet market and a $20-billion market if the commercial airlines are convinced that the systems will pay for themselves.
Private aviation is the proving ground for such systems because the individuals and businesses that can afford their own jets usually want the newest equipment and are willing to pay for it.
Airshow, which also makes products that give passengers navigation information or the latest news, sold its first airborne TV system to auto parts maker Tenneco Inc. for its Gulfstream jet late last year.
Its second sale was earlier this year to a buyer who won’t let Airshow disclose its name. Last week, the company said it sold a TV system to Cessna Aircraft Co. for a customer buying one of Cessna’s $20-million Citation X jets.
Cessna is the third business jet maker to begin listing Airshow TV as an option for buyers. The others are Gulfstream Aerospace Inc. and Bombardier Business Aircraft, maker of the Challenger and Global Express jets.
*
John O’Dell covers major Orange County corporations and manufacturing for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-5831 and at john.odell@latimes.com.
