WEBVTT - How Airplane Technology Works 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:09.039 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:17.720 tech Style from how stuff works dot com. Hello everybody, 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:19.960 and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette. 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:22.320 I'm an editor here at how stuff works dot Com. 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:25.440 Sitting across from me as usual as senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:29.240 Hey there, Crispy, So what do you want to talk 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:34.920 about today? Today? I want to talk about um flying? Okay, 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.040 you know, wait, we did our podcast about cell phone 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:40.879 safety and whether or not it was safe to actually 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:43.559 have a cell phone working on a plane, and then 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:45.520 it occurred to us that there's a lot of really 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:50.560 cool technology that planes use to not only take flight, 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:53.280 but to get around to where they're going, and we 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:56.240 kind of wanted to touch on some of the systems. No, granted, 0:00:56.640 --> 0:01:02.040 a a really detailed discussion about airplane technology would probably 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:03.920 take hours and hours, so again, this is going to 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:06.880 be an overview, but we're gonna hit some of the 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:09.120 uh the cool technology that gets you to where you're 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:11.240 going when you're taking flight. Yeah, some of it's really 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.319 really complicated. Other parts of it are just plane simple, 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:20.920 ha ha. Alright, So with that in mind, let's go 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:23.360 ahead and get started. Did you have something in mind 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:25.240 to start with. I was going to talk about sensors 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:28.160 for because sensors you know, this is of course this 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:30.120 is these are all the systems on the plane that 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:32.959 tell it where it is, how fast it's moving, what's 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:36.160 its relationship with other stuff that's in the area. And 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:38.399 it's all obviously very important for the safety of the 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.560 plane and for navigational purposes. And there are tons of 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:43.920 different kinds of sensors that we can talk about, but 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:47.640 in general, the ones that are pretty much standard across 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.400 pretty much any plane of significance would be you'd have 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:55.160 to have something that keeps time right, so a clock 0:01:55.320 --> 0:02:01.360 of some sort um you iCal device, US econological device, 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:06.520 and altimeter, which in general uses measures air pressure and 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:12.000 determines how um how high up you are, UH, something 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:16.519 that can can detect and measure air speed UM and 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:24.200 definite accelerometers both for vertical acceleration and horizontal UM. A 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:28.600 compass of some sort so magnetic heading. You would need 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:33.160 some sensors that would be able to uh indicate where 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:35.920 the controls are, I mean, like what what setting they 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:39.600 are in obviously UM fuel sensors, that kind of thing, 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:44.760 UH stabilizers. UM. All these sensors are very very important 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:48.320 so that the pilot can make sure that everything is 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:51.239 is UH as it should be and or make adjustments 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:55.399 if things aren't quite right. And they also the equipment 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:58.200 that needed to judge the state of the aircraft, like 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:02.160 where the flaps are, the wheels, and all the other 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:04.880 things that need to move, how much gas is in 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:09.200 the tank jet fuel jet fuel. Yeah, well, you know, 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:12.440 we can simplify a little bit. I think I think 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:15.720 we'll only get maybe ten or fifteen listener mails if 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:20.000 we do that. UM. But yeah, all of this information 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:24.680 gets fed UH to a flight data recorder as well 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:29.080 as to the instruments on the pilot's console. And the 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:32.919 flight data recorder is very important in the case of UH, 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:38.000 something unusual happening, whether it ends up being an actual accident, 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:40.360 which you know hopefully that's not the case, or if 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:43.000 just something is not quite right and then they need 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.960 to review it at the end of the flight. UM. 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:49.760 And the flight data recorder is located along with the 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:54.000 cockpit voice recorder in UM in special a special kind 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:57.120 of casing, and there's a very common term for this 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:01.960 kind of casing. It's actually a very deceptive term. Considering 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:06.320 what looks like a really sturdy box, well, it's called 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:08.920 it usually a black box, even though they're not black, right, 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:11.680 they're not black, and they don't really look like boxes. Necessarily. 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:16.000 They're usually bright orange UM because it makes it easier 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:21.719 to spot if again, the unfortunate conclusion of a wreck occurs, 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.760 if you've got a lot of wreckage, right, orange container 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:29.920 stands out black not so much, especially there's been fire damage. 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:34.640 So the black box, as they're known, UM, they shield 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:37.560 the flight down of recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:40.960 Actually there's often two different ones, one for each, and 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:43.640 they're most often in the very back of the plane 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:45.560 and the tail of the plane because that's going to 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:48.000 be the area of the plane that suffers the least 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:52.039 damage in case of an impact in most cases. Yep 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:55.880 and UM. Actually, the information that goes to these machines 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:58.960 is collected by the flight Data Acquisition Unit, which basically 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:02.400 is a go between UH for the sensors and the 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:06.160 black boxing. I'm still making a case that boxing should 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:08.840 be the plural for box. Well, I mean, you got 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:15.240 good luck that anyhow, They basically have two separate responsibilities. 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:20.480 The the cockpit voice recorder is used to record the 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:26.680 voices in the cockpit. You don't say, I do say? Um, 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:30.120 so yeah, basically all the all the communications in the 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:32.800 cap and you know, in the actual cockpit itself, between 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:36.680 the pilot and anybody else who happens to be in there, right, 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:40.120 the co pilot and maybe another and anyone else who 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:44.120 actually is in the cockpit. Sometimes there are three yeah, 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:49.039 officers in the cockpit or um and usually they it's 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:53.120 taking taking a sound from the microphones that are located 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:56.640 in the pilot's headset, that copilots headset. There's usually also 0:05:56.760 --> 0:05:59.960 another microphone that's in the cockpit itself. It's not connect 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.000 to a headset. It's just there to pick up any 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:06.039 other sounds and its warnings for example, right yeah, and 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:08.200 it'll pick up like if there's a loud thud or 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:11.119 something along those lines. I mean, it'll that will help 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:18.120 people figure out what happened after the event. So um yeah, 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:20.960 everything that that goes on in the cockpits recorded there. Now, 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.440 what's interesting is that, uh, it doesn't keep all that 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:28.919 information forever. No, it actually, uh, depending on the the 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:33.080 media upon which the voices are recorded. It will keep 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:37.800 that for between thirty minutes and two hours. And in 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:40.360 most cases now I think most of them have used 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:44.880 solid state tape solid state technology, can I not say that? Right? 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:48.920 More times? Basically they used to use real to real 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:54.000 tapes magnetic tape, um, you know, which has a finite 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:58.360 beginning and end. Uh. The solid state flash type memory 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:02.360 has the ability to you know, keep racing and um. 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:05.159 You know, it's also got the advantage of not having 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:09.200 as many moving parts, right, yeah, it's it um also 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:11.840 not uh yeah, it's not as vulnerable to damage as 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:15.240 the magnetic tape is necessarily I mean, and U it 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.080 can hold a lot more information to in a in 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:22.600 a in the same physical amount of space. So yeah, 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:24.760 up to two hours, maybe even more than that. Actually 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:26.840 that the latest I saw was two hours, but I'm 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.520 guessing that you know, with the way that that solid 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:32.000 state drives have have advanced over the last few years, 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:34.600 I bet it's even higher than that now. But the 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:38.000 idea being that after the reason why it would record 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:40.080 over after the last couple of hours is the only 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:42.120 reason you would need to review this in the first places. 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:44.440 If there was a catastrophic accident, and the chances are 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.880 that anything that would really indicate a problem would have 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:51.440 occurred half an hour or closer to the actual event. 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:54.320 You're not you know, it's not gonna you know, any 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:58.360 problem that's that serious, that's detected earlier would probably result 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:01.440 in an emergency landing, unless, of course you were maybe 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.880 over a huge body of water and couldn't do that right, Right, 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:09.360 So that's the reason for the you know, that's why 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:11.280 you're not too concerned over the fact that's going to 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:17.280 record over the previous you know recording, UM, the flight 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:19.440 data recorder. That's very important as well, because it will 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:23.720 record all the conditions that were uh that we're leading 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:26.600 up to the incident, and then of course everything thereafter, 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:30.240 and that gives investigators a chance to really determine what 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:32.400 it was that caused the problem in the first place. 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:35.480 And uh, I mean that's important. You know, if it's 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:38.520 a manufacturing error, then obviously that's something you have to address, 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:40.640 because what if that affects everything else in the fleet 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:46.200 of planes or everything that's you know, of that same designation, right, 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:48.880 I mean, this is um it's gonna track all kinds 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:53.760 of information about the aircraft. Uh, you know, including stuff 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:56.480 that I said before, all about the flaps, the positions 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.760 of the flaps and and things like that, air speed. Um, 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:02.560 and based on the conditions and uh, you know, maybe 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.760 the weather conditions in the area and anything that the 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:09.200 pilot might have said. They can sort of piece together 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:11.520 what may have happened in the event of an accident 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:13.959 right now, and they're there are plenty of transcripts out 0:09:13.960 --> 0:09:17.640 there from that. We're taken from black box recordings, and uh, 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:19.640 I tried reading a few of them, and after a couple, 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:22.559 I'm like, I can't read any more of these. It's 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:25.720 a little too intense for me. Um. You might wonder 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:29.840 water these these black boxes made of these black boxes 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:33.520 that are neither black nor boxes. Um. Well, you've got 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:38.480 an aluminum housing that surrounds the sensitive equipment. Then you 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:41.080 have you have some insulation that goes around that because 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:43.560 of course, if there is a fire, right and jet 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:46.360 fuel burns pretty hot, yes, so you have to have 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:50.160 something that can withstand intense heat and protect the electronics 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:53.320 insided so that people when they recover the electronics can 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:56.200 figure out what happened. Um. And then around that you 0:09:56.280 --> 0:10:01.000 have a stainless steel shell. Wow. Yeah, so I mean, 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:04.520 and people often make that like that. I've heard comedians 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:08.440 make the joke of, you know, when there's an airplane crash, 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:10.679 they find the black box and it's fine, Why don't 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:14.679 they make the whole airplane out of that hauh? Because 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:19.760 it be way too heavy, that's why. But that's not funny. 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:21.840 I guess. I guess if you stand up and you 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.640 and you talk back to a comedian who's doing observational humor, 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:27.200 and you explain in logical terms why the joke would 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:29.839 not work, that makes it less funny. I suppose I 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.160 would imagine that that would not endear you to your 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:36.160 fellow you know, crowd members. Yeah, that that explains why 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:40.680 I'm no longer allowed in the chuckle hut. So yeah, 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:42.600 do you like that? I just came up with it, 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:46.600 all right. So another thing that these uh, these black 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:52.640 boxes have usually is an underwater locator beacon. Oh yeah, yeah, 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:54.840 that would be very useful well, of course, Yeah, if 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:57.320 you if you do happen to have an emergency water 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:00.120 landing or a crash, you would need to have some 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:03.920 way of being able to find this this device underwater 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:07.720 and the way these systems work is they have a 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:12.920 sensor that will detect if the black box goes underwater, 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:18.080 and then it activates a a subsonic signal. Actually I'm sorry, 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:20.199 an ultrasonic signal, so I should go the other way, 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:24.559 not subsonicum, ultrasonic signal, And so you can't hear it, 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:28.320 but it can be detected by UH wall detection equipment, 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.880 so people searching around the area using the right equipment 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:35.120 can locate it very quickly. Right, so it's a pitch 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:37.719 so high that only underwater dogs can hear it. Right, 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:41.360 it might affect the behavior of dolphins in the area, 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:45.880 but other than that, right, And even despite that, of course, um, 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:49.480 they can't always find some of the the black boxes. 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.079 I mean that happened in the case of that that 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:58.079 crash in the ocean earlier summer or two thousand nine. Um, 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:00.400 as far as I know, last i'd see they had 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:02.520 they'd given up looking for it because they were unable 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:04.560 to find that signal. Yeah, well, I mean there are 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.160 many things that could affect that. I mean you're talking about, 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.480 like the wreckage of a crash can spread over a 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:12.800 very wide area, so that makes it difficult. Then of 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:15.800 course you have things like currents and the depth of 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:19.920 the water exactly. Um was not exactly known for not 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:24.880 distorting audio, right, Yeah, so it might depending on many 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:28.040 different uh factors, you may or may not be able 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:30.880 to find that very quickly. But that's the whole purpose 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.000 of it is to to try and facilitate that, make 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:35.560 it a little easier, so that the answers can can 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.680 be found too. I mean, anytime there's a crash, there's 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.360 gonna be lots of questions about exactly what happened. You know, 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.000 was it human error, was it mechanical error, was it 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:46.680 you know, unexpected turbulence, all that kind of stuff everyone 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.679 wants to know. I mean, you know, it's a very 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:54.640 traumatic experience. Um, moving on to unless you have anything 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:56.120 else about black boxes. I was going to move on 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:58.000 to a different technology now. I was going to say, 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:00.280 you know, that's you know we've been talking about that's 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:02.720 kind of a somber one way. You always have something 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:06.160 else that's not not so somber. Um, this is this 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:09.640 isn't necessarily upbeaten chipper. It's just a neat technology. I 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:14.960 was gonna talk about transponders. So transponder is a well 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:17.520 the word transponder. It's kind of a combination of the 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:23.599 words transmitter and responder. That's a transponder. The idea is 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.000 that it's a device that when you send a signal, 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:30.000 it automatically sends a signal back. And it was very 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:33.679 useful during World War Two because what they used. The 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:36.880 way the military used transponders was it was a way 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:41.560 to identify planes as being allied planes. Clearly, I mean, 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:45.559 you wouldn't want to fire upon an allied UH airplane. 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:49.240 That's a typically considered a bad tactic in warfare, as 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:52.360 I understand it, So you would not want to fire 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:54.559 upon one of your own allies that you've got this transponder. 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:56.160 You send a signal out, you get a signal back, 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.520 you see that this is one of the signals that 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:04.520 UM signifies a friend, you don't fire upon them. Now 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:08.400 in commercial jets, it's more of a way to identify 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:11.520 the plane and make sure that you're that they're on 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:14.440 the right track, they're on the right flight path, UM 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:18.080 and UH so it's very useful for air traffic control 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:21.440 and UM. I used to have to write a lot 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.960 about transponders. One of my first jobs out of college 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:29.440 was I was working for a particular airline which I 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:34.400 will not name. But um, my job was to take 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:39.280 really old sound files, uh that were descriptions of the 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:44.560 various systems aboard their airplanes and transcribe them because they 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:49.000 lost the hard copy scripts. So I got to listen 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:53.120 all day two sound files about things like the seven 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:57.200 forty seven and and write down everything about all their 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:01.880 various systems. Yeah. That was my job for about well 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:06.160 a couple of months. Really that long. Yeah, I'm impressed 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:07.760 as you made it that long. Well, it was a 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:09.840 temp job in the first place. It wasn't it wasn't 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:15.080 a permanent assignment. Yeah, no, I know, I know more 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:20.920 about the m D A eight than I cared to remember. Well, um, 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:24.440 you know, actually transponders are very important because they lead 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:28.000 to some non airplane airplane tech too. Yeah, because not 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:31.520 just using aircraft. Well that's that's not exactly what I meant, 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:34.600 because part of um, the tech used in flying a 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:37.520 plane is based on the ground. Well that's true too, 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:41.400 because the transponder is used by air traffic control, very 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:45.760 human piece of airplane tech to keep an eye on 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:49.000 everything and there. Um there's we have an article on 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:53.400 um that actually sort of you know, went through and 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:57.320 made some minor changes on not too long ago about uh, 0:15:57.560 --> 0:15:59.800 the how the f a A A works. It's kind of 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:04.520 thing because you realize that the FAA is tracking those 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:08.920 planes pretty much everywhere. They are using that transponder signal, um, 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:12.960 using the ground control equipment and basically they subdivide the 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:17.240 country into different sections and with each individual. I mean, 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.840 you know that transponder code from that particular aircraft is 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:24.040 unique to that plane. So, um, you know that's a 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:27.080 very important part at tech because at any given moment, 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:31.840 they're they're aware of where that is. That's true, That's true. 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:34.920 And of course we now also have the um the 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:40.080 wonderful technology of GPS, and many planes have a GPS 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.000 receiver that so that the pilot can see very quickly 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:48.440 exactly where the plane is. And um that's often a 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:52.960 useful thing, especially in really bad flying conditions. Uh, I 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:55.600 was gonna talk a little bit. And and the GPS 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:57.160 also comes in handy if you have to be sitting 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:58.800 on one of those planes that has the monitor in 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:00.240 the back of the seat in front of you and 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:03.800 you get want a track where you're plane is. Yeah, 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:06.760 it gives you the flight track information and you're like, wow, 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:12.159 we're directly over Tucson right now. Um. But I was 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:14.959 also going to mention there's some other tech on on 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:17.679 planes that it's a little more recent that. Uh. I 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:20.280 thought i'd chat about the WiFi that you can get 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.960 on some planes. Now, okay, I have an older piece 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:26.760 of tech too, So do you want to do that ahead? No? No, no, 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:30.320 it's okay. If we're going chronologically, then I should skip 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:34.200 back real quick. Shoot for it. One, two, three, shoot 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:38.640 all right, all right, Chris, one, go ahead, Um yeah, 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:41.800 I l S. Oh all right. Um. The I l 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:46.040 S system is basically tells a pilot where he or 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:49.879 she is with regard to a runway. Um. It actually 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:54.440 uses combination of radio signals based around, um, the runway 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:58.720 itself and uh so maybe the runway is obscured by clouds. 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:02.760 Um it will you know use sort of. It uses 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:06.560 a combination of altitude, well, the glide path and then 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:11.200 also the uh you know, it's the excuse me, Instrument 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:13.199 Landing system is what I l S is short for. 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:15.880 So it basically is giving them a combination of while 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:19.360 you are right here with regard to the runway. Uh, 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:21.320 you should you know, turn this way a little bit 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:23.560 and you'll be lined up with the runway. So even 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:26.320 if he or she can't see it, um, they know 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.479 exactly where it is based on the signals generated from 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:33.400 the ground, and you know, they coordinate that with where 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:35.399 the plane is. So that's a very useful piece of 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:38.640 definitely technology because if you've ever wondered when you're coming 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:41.040 into an airport and it's cloudy out and they make 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:43.840 a perfect landing, that's how they're doing it. They're relying 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:47.560 on that instrumentation to help them help them find where 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:51.280 they are. Also, the orientation really important. Whenever Johnny unplugs 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:55.000 the lights on the runway, that happens in so few 0:18:55.040 --> 0:19:02.800 circumstances that that's problem. Surely you can't be serious, um, 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:05.959 all right, so now we'll go on to the WiFi. Alright, 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:11.640 the WiFi, No Johnny's on the ground. So yeah, WiFi 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:15.320 on planes is fairly recent. Um. It's something that had 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:18.359 been discussed, uh well for a few years now, and 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:21.640 a couple of companies have been doing it for since 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:24.439 about I guess around two thousand and six, but in 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:27.080 the United States it's a little more recent than that. 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:33.480 And um, it's a it's a pretty simple system. They 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:36.600 there's some technology, there's equipment that's put aboard the plane 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:38.880 that turns it turns it into a hot spot essentially, 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:45.199 and your laptop or other device can connect wirelessly to 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:51.199 this using typical WiFi technology, and then the hardware on 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:54.600 the plane actually sends that signal down to the ground 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:58.359 to towers on the ground and communicates that way. And 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:01.920 that's how you are getting acces us too, uh, the Internet. 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:04.560 So it's not like, you know, you're you're not tapping 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:09.000 into this magical Internet that's all around you in the air. Um. Really, 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:11.119 the reason why you're able to do it is because 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:15.320 the plane has a very specific kind of transceiver. Really, 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:20.160 it's a very very long Ethernet cable. Yes, right, there's 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:23.600 there's some poor schlubs job to just keep unwinding that 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:27.359 cord and then another poor poor person's job to wind 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:32.440 it all. No, it's not wired. Man, Talk about the 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:36.560 letters we would get from that one? Yeah? Um, was 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:38.560 that all with WiFi? Yeah? That was all I had 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:40.680 for a WiFi. It was just really it's just interesting 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:43.560 to me that it's you know, again, you're turning the 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.119 plane itself into a hot spot, and depending on what 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:49.919 airline you're on, you'll see that they have different um uh, 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:56.000 different pricing plans for it. Um. Some some people found difficulty, um. People, 0:20:56.119 --> 0:21:01.880 some companies found difficulty implementing this and making it uh profitable. UM. 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:04.640 I think Boeing did it briefly and then jumped out 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:08.840 of it in the connection. Yeah yeah, I think. Weren't 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:11.040 they charging like thirty bucks a flight or something like that. 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:12.639 I don't know about the price point, but I do 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:15.320 know that they've done They've washed their hands and yeah, yeah, 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:17.880 what happened was, as I recall, the way it worked 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:20.879 was they were charging thirty bucks for per flight. No. 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:24.119 I don't know that necessarily um scale depending on the 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:27.879 length of the flight. But because most people weren't willing 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:30.000 to pay about as much as it costs to have 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:34.320 WiFi for a month at your house for a single flight, um, 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:37.280 it ended up not making Bowing very much money and 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:40.320 they abandoned the project. But other you know, like actual 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:45.960 airlines have have implemented this on their own and um, 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:48.159 there are a couple of companies that partner with to 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:51.600 do that. Yeah. Um, and they give you broadband speeds 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:55.399 of slowish DSL, So I mean it's it's fast, but 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:58.240 not really really fast. Yeah. Yeah, most people I think 0:21:58.240 --> 0:22:00.200 will be using it to do things like checking l 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:01.800 I mean you might have a few folks who are 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:04.399 you know, wanting to use it to to use Hulu 0:22:04.480 --> 0:22:06.919 so they can avoid having to watch whatever the movie 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:09.600 is on board the plane. Yeah, there's only so many 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:13.919 times you can watch Uncle Buck, by the way, is 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:16.240 the number of times that would be a good segue 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:20.800 into a satellite TV though? Um? Now, you know a 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:25.160 lot of era carriers now offer satellite radio and satellite TV. 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:28.919 Um and um, they're the signals are a little bit different. 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:32.760 Satellite radio is not nearly as directional. Uh. So you know, 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:36.840 really it doesn't matter. The antenna position doesn't matter nearly 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:38.919 as much as it does for a satellite TV. If 0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:41.800 you're a person that owns a satellite dish, uh, and 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:44.040 it's in your yard and you know, the neighbor's kid 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:46.040 kicked a soccer ball into it, and it looks like 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:48.080 it's position right, but it through your TV signal off. 0:22:48.119 --> 0:22:52.080 You know that satellite TV signals are a bit more directional. Well, 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:55.719 you say, is there a little you know? Uh? William 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:59.960 Shatner type guy out on the wing repositioning that side 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:04.720 light dish. William Shatner was inside the plane. Okay, that's 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:11.320 not sorry, shall I shall I restate there's not a 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:14.720 little uh, you know, gremlin like William Shatner saw through 0:23:14.760 --> 0:23:18.240 the window of the plane. UM out there repositioning the 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:21.919 satellite dish and actually uses for satellite TV on a plane. 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:25.600 You actually have a specialized antenna that tracks the position 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:28.199 of the satellite and automatically corrects itself so that it 0:23:28.240 --> 0:23:32.800 can maintain its line of sight to the satellite UM 0:23:32.880 --> 0:23:36.639