Airshow Introduces New Info Network; Will Bring More News Into Bizjet Cabins

Airshow, Inc. of Tustin, Calif. will introduce the next generation of its cabin information system here at the NBAA Convention.

Titled Network '99, Airshow's updated inflight information service is built on improved software allowing the digital uplinked feed to be customized, or tailored to the operator's individual needs. According to Airshow's president Dennis Ferguson, Network '99 is distinguished from previous versions by the following features:

• Expanded financial news from Bloomberg Financial Markets with "lots of depth, customized stock quotes, bonds, equities, and foreign currencies."

• Addition of The Wall Street Journal Inter-active service, "a mixture of resources...that is heavily financial."

• More categories of news from CNN and ESPN's SportsTicker.

• Executive Office, one of the customized features that allows information generated by the operator's corporation to be mod-emed to the Airshow Network Communi-cations Center and uplinked to the airplane. Ferguson described this as "proprietary information exclusive to the operator's company [including] e-mail, newsletters, corporate reports and spreadsheets generated internally..." He claimed the data is protected by "software security devices" to prevent eavesdropping.

• Improved weather maps from Weather Services International's Intellicast service for both cabin and cockpit presentation. Display graphics have been enhanced, Ferguson said, emulating the quality "of what you'd see on the Internet without all the data usually necessary to be downloaded."

Passengers should find Network '99 to be more user-friendly, with information easier to manage via improved menus. As in previous iterations, weather graphics and text can be sent directly to cockpit displays for use by flight crews. While many operators install dedicated small LCD displays on their center pedestals or side consoles for this purpose, Ferguson said the Universal Avionics UNS-1 FMS can paint the Airshow graphics and text on its CDU, as can new Honeywell and Collins next-generation EFIS displays equipped with video ports. Currently, about 150 business jet operators are displaying Airshow weather in their cockpits, he claimed.

First shipments of Airshow '99 were scheduled to begin in September.

Airshow TV, the company's inflight direct-broadcast television service announced at last year's NBAA Convention, will also be hyped at the Las Vegas show. Since first flight last December aboard a Gulfstream III, more than 1,000 hours of operating time has been logged with the system. In addition to the G-III, STCs have since been obtained for installations on G-IVs, Falcon 900s, Challenger 601s and 604s, and Citation Xs.

Now that the technical conundrums inherent in receiving a satellite video transmission aboard a moving aircraft have been solved by the Airshow system's Dayton steerable antenna, Ferguson said, the company is addressing the business challenge of arranging programming. This involves "a whole set of releases from the various programmers...[conferring] rights for broadcast to an aviation application." Working with Direct TV, Airshow has secured rights to air NFL and NBA sporting events, as well as the USSB service, which among other offerings includes the Movie Channel.

Currently, service is limited to Direct TV's Continental U.S. coverage, but negotiations have begun for international content as well.