Boeing 737 ecoDemonstrator Will Test Satellite Data Link for Pilot-to-Controller Communications Written 30 August 2021
A United Airlines Boeing 737-9 MAX | Credit: Konstantin von Wedelstaedt; Wikimedia Commons; GFDL
Aviation Today reported a heavily modified Alaska Airlines 737-9 will be the test bed for The Boeing Company’s 2021 ecoDemonstrator program. The aircraft will “provide the opportunity for Inmarsat to evaluate the use of Internet Protocol Suite (IPS)-based satellite data link communications between pilots and controllers.” The 737-9 has been equipped with “antennas, modems, and radios to enable the use of Inmarsat’s Iris satellite communications technology for data link messages – normally transmitted over Very High Frequency (VHF) radio – exchanged between the aircraft’s flight management computer and ground-based air traffic control systems.”
Full Story (Aviation Today)