From the editor: Wi-Fi world

But back in the cabin it’s a different story. There’s a surging demand for the kind of connectivity that makes the airplane an extension of the home or office environment. We’re talking about a level way beyond the earlier AirCell and other inflight phone systems. For example, GoGo Business Aviation, BendixKing, and other airborne Wi-Fi providers let passengers surf the internet, catch up on email, send text messages, and use their smartphones to make voice calls—or play Candy Crush. It’s the new normal on practically every recent-model turboprop or business jet. Not to mention the airlines.

So passengers can say goodbye to those pensive gazes on the cloudscapes below, and say hello to full-time digital networking. Not that anyone seems to be complaining. Think of it. You can email your co-workers, friends, or family while watching Stranger Things on your iPad, laptop, or cabin display. Flying teenagers around? Better get the heavy-duty service plan, because they’ll really suck up the bandwidth.

Passengers can say goodbye to those pensive gazes on the cloudscapes below, and say hello to full-time digital networking. The conventional assertion was that corporate or owner-flown airplanes—especially those that are turbine-powered—were desirable for encouraging the face-to-face contact so necessary for conducting business or fostering other valuable personal relationships. The idea was that you could connect people across large distances in a few short hours, or put them together in a nice, comfy cabin. I guess those days are slipping away. Or are they? Maybe Skype and FaceTime can be just as effective? I’m guessing not, although we have become acclimated to increasingly digital social conventions—and even demand them. Deprive us of email or internet and many of us will have withdrawal symptoms within 10 minutes.

Cockpit conventions are changing too. So, all that monastic-calm talk above is quickly receding into the past. Pilots are more connected than ever, thanks to apps that handle information and services for everything from flight plans to fuel prices, navigation, and, yes, hotel and dinner reservations. A company called AirText has just introduced an app that supports texting to and from the cockpit using the Iridium satellite system. Like every other job these days, pilots face demands for more productivity. Electronic flight bags, tablet computers, and iPads help make it happen.

Sure, you can still find time to appreciate the special kind of focus that flying brings. But being pilot in command means balancing a juggling act, and sometimes you need all the help you can get. And maybe even a break once in a while if you’re in a two-crew cockpit. Now, if we can only think of a way to stream Netflix on a multifunction display…just kidding! —Thomas A. Horne, Turbine Pilot Editor