Airshow Inc. is launching AirshowMail, the first airborne e-mail service for business aviation users.

The system is designed to interface with the user's own computer and software system. In real-time use, customers who want airborne access to e-mail arrange to have their e-mail forwarded to their AirshowMail account at AirshowMail.com. To make information flow more steadily, users can configure the system to exclude attachments or even forward only the headings of messages they receive.

Onboard an aircraft, users plug their own laptops into an Ethernet port in the cabin--or if they wish, they can connect through an optional Airshow cabin management system, sending and retrieving messages via a remote keyboard and a bulkhead or at-seat monitor.

The airborne server then can be instructed to call Airshow's network operations center in Tustin, CA, where the forwarded e-mail waits. The e-mail is compressed and encrypted and uploaded via radio telephone or SATCOM. When messages are received, users' own software gives notification that messages are waiting.

The system has an error detection system that automatically detects if data has been sent inaccurately due to noisy links, weak signals or other interference. It also has a "stop-drop-resume" feature that allows a data transmission to be interrupted if the phone link is needed elsewhere, or if a signal is temporarily dropped.

The system has a special security characteristic for system users in fractional-use jets. "When a plane lands, all messages in the system are 'flushed,'" said Airshow's Steve Vollum. "That way, the next user of the plane can't open the old e-mail."

The system also can be used on the ground via landline or cellular phone. Message transmission runs between 2400 and 9600 baud for radio telephone, and between 64 and 124K via SATCOM data stream.
Airshow plans to begin delivering the system for active use in third quarter 2000, and expects the system to cost less than $40,000.

Ultimately, an Airshow executive said, the company would like to install the system on commercial aircraft. Because of the cost of putting a LAN on a commercial aircraft, though, that concept can't bear fruit until the company forms a partnership with a communications provider or other such entity.