By ANN Correspondent Rob Milford
It’s been two years since the
first XM radios started showing up in homes and trucks and cars
across the country. By the time you read this, they may have passed
the one million subscriber mark. To top the 100 channels of music
and news and talk, XM has now teamed up with WxWorx of Huntsville,
Al, to provide in-flight, real-time radar and detailed weather data
to the aviation industry.
Bob Baron, President of WxWorx, says this will provide detailed
and accurate real-time weather data. WxWorx is the company that
developed the Storm Cell Identification and Tracking program, now
seen on hundreds of TV stations around the country, which gives
time and location “hacks” on storm cells.
The service is starting to fly, on the Cessna Citation CJ-3, but
is not targeted at one particular segment of aviation. You can use
it in your Bonanza as well as your Gulfstream, and if XM sells this
the right way, it could be part of airline cockpits before too much
longer.
Roderick MacKenzie of XM briefed ANN this week, showing how the
screen will carry not just the real-time radar, but graphical wind
speed and direction, lightning strikes, and will overlay with
Garmin’s G-1000 cockpit avionics suite and other advanced
multi-function displays.
You will also get sigmet warnings, and echo tops, as well as sea
state conditions if you are headed for a water landing (scheduled
or otherwise).
The XM system is also electronic flight bag compatible, with
software to suit whatever you carry, and surprisingly enough,
pretty affordable.
The basic 100 channel audio service sells for $9.99, and the
radar and weather data service is $49.99 per month. The weather
receiver sells for $3,750 (msrp). The best estimate that XM could
come up with was “about” $6,500 to $7,000 for an entire
system, including the antenna installation, the receivers (both
radar and audio) and running power and antenna cables (about 20
working hours). That doesn’t include what you’ll spend
on a tablet or notebook display.
FAA Certification is expected by the end of the year, and
you’ll get an STC or field approval on the system. XM’s
MacKenzie says “This is the blending of weather technology
and XM’s delivery system from our two big Boeing satellites.
It’s a significant breakthrough of affordable graphical
weather information delivery to aircraft in-flight!”