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Ask HN: Why are airplane touch screens so poor?

6 points by waterside81 ↗ HN
I was wondering if anybody with a bit of understanding of touch screens or electronics on-board airplanes would have some insight on why touch screens are so poor on planes. I just flew on Virgin America and while the functionality is steadily improving (wi-fi, google maps, ordering your food in seat), it's still pretty poor and the performance is a joke, especially when you compare to your iPad.

Is the software just crap? Is it the hardware? Is there no financial incentive to improve?

10 comments

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wgrover
Maybe they suck because the airlines run the screens. Why aren't there media or advertising companies running the screens, like the screens in the back of some taxis? In exchange for installing/upgrading/maintaining the screens, the company gets to put occasional commercials in the movies the passenger watches, takes a cut of the proceeds when the passenger browses and buys from Skymall on the screen, etc.
olalonde
They could simply run them on Android and install a couple of apps.
subcorpus
All the more reason they can easily make it better :)
jonhendry
" Why aren't there media or advertising companies running the screens, like the screens in the back of some taxis?"

Those aren't so great either. I had one in Boston reboot and then freeze on me.

And really, why would advertising companies be motivated to make the hardware cutting-edge? The passenger isn't the customer. The passenger is the product.

brk
Well, there are a lot more regulatory issues they have to deal with in regards to EMi and such. The certification process of those kinds of devices is long and expensive. Plus, airlines are not exactly cash cows, so its not like they can afford to put a $2k entertainment system in each seat.

So, what you're looking at is the 5 year old state-of-the-art-on-a-budget technology. With that in mind, the rest of it becomes more clear.

geuis
Think about it for a minute. We're talking about hardware and software installed by companies who now charge for pillows on many flights. They no longer provide meals. Their employees, in particular the flight attendants, are paid something like $25-35k per year and they deal with all the crap that we as human beings can make another person go through.

They cut costs at every corner, while charging more and more money to fly. That's why its a terrible idea as an investor to put your money into airline companies. Very little chance of long-term return on your investment.

mhd
Let's forget the rants against airlines for a while: The big difference in touch screen technology is about resistive (old-fashioned, "soft" screens) vs capacitive screens (cf. iphone etc.). The last time most airlines installed their systems was when resistive technology was still state of the art, so I assume that most of what you get in the recent airliners still reflects that date.

Have we forgotten that decent touchscreens are still pretty new? Ferchrissakes, the first iphone came out in 2007…

public_nme
The quick answer, bureaucracy. It has been several years since I have worked in the field. From what I recall, companies developing airborne software have to be indoctrinated, trained, and certified. Then every line of airborne software whether it is for engine controls or in flight entertainment has to be certified by the FAA. These are not quick, easy, or cheap to obtain.

http://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/design_approvals/air_so...

tfe
It's because everything in an airliner is heavily regulated by the FAA. Everything has to be rigorously tested and certified.

This just increases the development cycle length. Compare to car nav systems, which also lag behind. Then add the length of the certification process, (even more extreme) conservatism in the industry, installation time (airliner must be taken out of service for a week or two, which is a lot of forgone revenue), etc.

Also, there are power consumption and weight considerations. It may not seem like much for one seat, but multiply by 300 seats in an airliner and it starts be significant.

Add that all up, and it's no longer surprising that the systems are outdated.

flomo
On a Delta flight, my screen was rebooting itself every couple minutes. By the time we landed I had nearly memorized the boot messages from Linux kernel 2.036, which dates back to 1998 or so.