Business jets don’t do businesses much good while they’re sitting on the ground. That’s why the future of business aviation connectivity will be about smart maintenance solutions and a well-informed crew — just as much as speed and reliability.
The next generation of tools to increase aircraft uptime may seem futuristic, but many of them are just over the horizon — if you have the network capacity to take advantage of them. That’s why Viasat is so invested in delivering massive amounts of bandwidth and future-proofing equipment that can handle tomorrow’s connectivity demands.
Here are a few ways Viasat’s substantial capacity will maximize a business aircraft’s uptime in the next few years:
Easy updates: Today’s “glass” cockpits have more tablets and touchscreens than mechanical flight instruments. All those devices run on software, and software periodically needs to be updated. But unlike a phone, an aircraft can’t simply reboot itself whenever new software happens to be released.
Until recently, maintenance crews were forced to copy software to a floppy disk so they could update it manually. But with Viasat service, you can download the software directly to the cockpit, dramatically reducing downtime.
Real-time intelligence: Computerized aircraft have been capable of doing self-checkups for a while now. For tomorrow’s business jets, the challenge won’t be too little data – it will be sorting the massive amounts of digital information a plane produces, and getting it where it needs to go economically. That’s a real problem if your provider doesn’t have enough capacity to keep up.
With Viasat, an abundance of bandwidth means you can afford to listen to everything the aircraft is telling you. Better yet, if the plane reports midair that an important part is due to be replaced or is having an issue, you can order ahead and have the replacement waiting when you arrive at your destination.
AR support: Business jets utilize thousands of small and mid-sized airports around the world, many of which don’t have a big-city maintenance crew on standby. And even at larger airports, you and your passengers might lose precious time waiting for service.
You could always text your mechanic back home and try to describe the problem to him, or send him a photo. But that all takes time and assumes the problem can be easily explained over the phone.
If your plane has Viasat service, you’ve brought your own powerful connection. You’re also carrying enough capacity to power augmented reality, even if the airport’s Wi-Fi can’t. With AR, your director of maintenance can watch a live stream of what your pilot or flight technician is seeing and mark it up like a football game. You’ll save time, and be certain the problem has been diagnosed correctly. That saves time, and creates peace of mind for you and your busy passengers.
Plus, Viasat’s versatile AR capability can be an incredibly powerful tool even when everything’s running smoothly.
As connected technology evolves, capacity will be the key to getting the most value out of a business jet investment and minimizing AOG time. With a bigger pipe and a forward-thinking approach, Viasat delivers the connectivity your organization needs to be successful at any altitude.
