In addition to uninterrupted Internet capable of 35 Mbps -- made possible by a network of three, soon to be four, satellites -- Honeywell's system also boasts a basket of branded apps that are intended to help pilots and their support staffs transport passengers safer, faster, more comfortably...and, of course, cheaper.
GoDirect Weather, for instance, provides real-time radar-based weather data, including info about clear turbulence, the location of thunderstorms, and even comments from other pilots about the up-to-the-second status of sometimes not-friendly skies. The tool can also illustrate where pockets of turbulence exist and at what altitude, so that pilots can fly lower or higher to skirt around them.
That information especially comes in handy when navigating over the oceans, which lack ground-based radar systems.
And pilots no longer need to rely on weather charts that aren't able to be updated when airborne.
“On a 12-hour flight,” said one pilot, “that data you had when you took off is old news.”
