4 ms·
Even that has to be tested that it won't burn, explode, cause some electrical problem to the power supply, the sat modem will not interfere with all other elect
by woliveirajr 11y ago
Even that has to be tested that it won't burn, explode, cause some electrical problem to the power supply, the sat modem will not interfere with all other electronic devices (in some unplanned manner, at least), that it can report to be working or not, that it can be turned off in case somethings goes wrong (leaving the problem that it is less usefull if it can be turned off), and how hard it will be to repair it (if it brakes too often and takes time to fix, it costs a lot to the companies)...
- mseebach 11y agoAnd all of that is equally true of the IFE units, thus the comparison.
- akiselev 11y agoNo, it's not. The true cost of IFEs is hidden by other subsystems in the airplane that the IFEs run on, including the fully isolated power they use which costs a hell of a lot more than 1500 per passenger. IFEs are not safety critical, unlike all of the systems that keep those in seat units running including the engine generator hook up and the miles of wiring. Compared to a transceiver which is a high power EM radiator hooked up to main power, IFEs are a regulatory and design afterthought made cheap by the expense put into all of the other parts.