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Fly-by-Wireless Plane Takes to the Sky

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the dropped-connection-a-real-bummer dept.

galactic_grub writes to tell us that engineers in Portugal have built and flown a plane with no wires or mechanical connections between the major systems, only a wireless network. From the article: "Tests flights carried out in Portugal have shown that the system works well. Cristina Santos, at Minho University in Portugal, who developed the plane, says the aim is primarily to reduce weight and power requirements. 'Also, if you do not have the cables then the system is much more flexible to changes,' she says."

9 of 376 comments (clear)

  1. Oh COOL!!! by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 4, Funny

    A WiFi card and a copy of MS Flight Simulator and YOU, yes YOU are in charge.

    BWAHAHAHAHA.

  2. Re:Holy Crap! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    A 'wireless' plane! My first thought was why the hell would you want to do that?

    Do you have any idea how hard it is to hang the CAT5 all the way up there in the sky?

  3. Aluminum Foil Now a Terrorist Tool by 19thNervousBreakdown · · Score: 3, Funny

    Great. Now how am I going to keep my cold pizza?

    --
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  4. I hate to say it.... by Instine · · Score: 4, Funny

    but this is just plane silly!

    --
    Because you can - or because you should?
    1. Re:I hate to say it.... by 955301 · · Score: 4, Funny

      The idea isn't well grounded, that's for sure.

      --
      You are checking your backups, aren't you?
  5. Re:Holy Crap! by ArsonSmith · · Score: 4, Funny

    Americans are no longer allowed to make jokes about other people.

    --
    Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
  6. Re:+1 Neat, -1 Impractical by NobodyExpects · · Score: 2, Funny
    There's also the concern of an onboard terrorist using implementation flaws to hack the airplane. The crew would have a deuce of a time trying to understand why they're locked out of their controls.

    Or the pointy-haired boss trying to land the plane using the Excel Flight Simulator...
  7. Re:Do we really need this? by ottawanker · · Score: 5, Funny

    But think of the benefits, this way you can still control the flaps in the wing, even after the wing has broken off!

  8. Re:Holy Crap! by myth24601 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I guess the pilot could just take his laptop with him when he went to the bathroom and fly the plane from there.

    --
    No matter where you go, there you are.