WiFi on commercial flights

TangoWhiskey

TangoWhiskey

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Feb 23, 2005
Messages
14,210
Location
Midlothian, TX
Display Name
3Green
Home Airfield
KJWY - Mid-Way Regional
That's just cool; I haven't been on a flight that has WiFi (yet), but I'm sitting here chatting via Instant Messaging on Facebook with a pilot friend of mine; he's at FL340, coming back to DFW. No noticeable delay for either of us.
 
It's pretty cool stuff. AirTran has wifi available on every flight. JetBlue has one or two aircraft testing equipment at the moment with plans to offer wifi.

So far it appears that GoGo is the main provider of on board wifi for most of the carriers I have traveled on.

Best,
Jason
 
HPNPilot1200 said:
It's pretty cool stuff. AirTran has wifi available on every flight. JetBlue has one or two aircraft testing equipment at the moment with plans to offer wifi.

So far it appears that GoGo is the main provider of on board wifi for most of the carriers I have traveled on.

Best,
Jason
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What surprised me (and him) is that sites like FlightAware were not blocked--he used it to track where they were. I though the recent TSA rules post-underwear-bomber was to disable anything that would let people know where the airplane was... maybe that was just as they near the destination.
 
TangoWhiskey said:
What surprised me (and him) is that sites like FlightAware were not blocked--he used it to track where they were. I though the recent TSA rules post-underwear-bomber was to disable anything that would let people know where the airplane was... maybe that was just as they near the destination.
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Nope, not as of right now. I was more surprised that VOIP applications are not being blocked. At one point, there was talk that airlines did not want passengers yapping on the computer/phone and disturbing other passengers around them.
 
TangoWhiskey said:
That's just cool; I haven't been on a flight that has WiFi (yet), but I'm sitting here chatting via Instant Messaging on Facebook with a pilot friend of mine; he's at FL340, coming back to DFW. No noticeable delay for either of us.
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Hope he's not flying the plane........
 
TangoWhiskey said:
What surprised me (and him) is that sites like FlightAware were not blocked--he used it to track where they were. I though the recent TSA rules post-underwear-bomber was to disable anything that would let people know where the airplane was... maybe that was just as they near the destination.
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Position info is most definitely not blocked on Frontier flights. I had mapquest to the gate on the flights to and from MDW this week.

Maybe the position info blocking is just on international flights.
 
Clark1961 said:
Maybe the position info blocking is just on international flights.
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Or maybe they just came to their collective minds and realized that this is idiotic and won't do anything to avoid an in-flight attack ?
 
TangoWhiskey said:
That's just cool; I haven't been on a flight that has WiFi (yet), but I'm sitting here chatting via Instant Messaging on Facebook with a pilot friend of mine; he's at FL340, coming back to DFW. No noticeable delay for either of us.
Click to expand...

Hopefully he doesn't fly by DFW while surfing porn....:D
 
TangoWhiskey said:
What surprised me (and him) is that sites like FlightAware were not blocked--he used it to track where they were. I though the recent TSA rules post-underwear-bomber was to disable anything that would let people know where the airplane was... maybe that was just as they near the destination.
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Do they make you close the window shades?
 
It's virtually impossible to block position info (or VOIP, or anything else) effectively.

There are plenty of ways to get around such blocks, and they certainly wouldn't deter somebody who is determined. Maybe they've actually realized that.

-Felix
 
sba55 said:
It's virtually impossible to block position info (or VOIP, or anything else) effectively.

There are plenty of ways to get around such blocks, and they certainly wouldn't deter somebody who is determined. Maybe they've actually realized that.

-Felix
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What about taking the airline route map out of the seat pocket propaganda rag? My experience has been that it often has enough detail to navigate by looking out the window (ok, I wear a compass on my wrist as well).
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
What about taking the airline route map out of the seat pocket propaganda rag? My experience has been that it often has enough detail to navigate by looking out the window (ok, I wear a compass on my wrist as well).
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Let's see. I'm scheduled to leave the gate at time X and arrive at the gate at time Y. Subtract 5-10 minutes on the ground at the destination and however long you taxi at the origin before takeoff and you have a good estimate for time enroute. That map and a watch will now give you all you need to know. Ded reckoning. Remember that subject?
 
Ghery said:
Let's see. I'm scheduled to leave the gate at time X and arrive at the gate at time Y. Subtract 5-10 minutes on the ground at the destination and however long you taxi at the origin before takeoff and you have a good estimate for time enroute. That map and a watch will now give you all you need to know. Ded reckoning. Remember that subject?
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I think you give the typical member of the American public too much credit. ;-)
 
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