Apple Grrl

One airplane manufacturer is hustling in the new electronics age by making iPods into the Black Box for their light aircraft. LoPresti Speed Merchants is planning to integrate the wildly popular, multi-functional mp3 player into its design for the new Fury Piston improved model. Having the iPod on board means 500 hours of recording time is possible. There is some debate about the logistics of the iPod’s use as the Black Box device. The current Black Boxes are built to survive a fiery crash and being crushed, pulverized, wet, burnt and other crash-related damage. The iPod is known more for its pocket mp3 and educational capabilities than for its crash-readiness.

Regardless, LoPresti is definitely moving forward on a fury design that incorporates and integrates the iPod as the Black Box, and plans to expand the idea to the rest of its aircraft designs once the Fury trial is successful. LoPresti’s innovation is not the only way iPods are getting to fly. Volaris, a Mexican airline, has begun renting iPods to its passengers for in-flight entertainment, a novel idea that is ahead of its time. Airline companies in the United States had planned a similar launch, but weren’t fast enough in implementing it. This gives Volaris a jump in the highly competitive Mexican travel market.

Once the American airline market has their ducks in a row, their iPod offering will be somewhat different than that of Volaris. It is an integrated plug and charge seat side system that will let passengers plug their iP{ods in and charge them, listen to the in-flight music selections on their iPods and more. Renting someone else’s 30GB iPod like you can on the Mexican airline is nice, but having your own with you is great.

Tags: iPod, Apple, Lopresi, iPod Airplane

Author: Leslie Poston, © 2007, All Rights Reserved

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