Greg Fell, CEO, JETNET. We are the trusted source of information and intelligence for the corporate aviation community.
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The aircraft successfully flown by the Wright brothers on Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903, was called the “Wright FlyerBut behind its simple name and spartan design was the labor and intelligence required to create it.
I find it particularly interesting that the Wrights initially used and then were discarded data from Otto Lilienthal, the first successful aviator. When Lilienthal’s data on test flights led to disappointing results, the Wrights built a small wind tunnel in their bike shop and conducted their own experiments to collect new data. The data from their wind tunnel experiments allowed them to design and build the aircraft they would fly at Kitty Hawk, launching the space age.
These pioneers of flight forged an inseparable link between data and aviation that continues today. “Digital Twin,” highly accurate digital versions of aircraft and aircraft parts, are direct descendants of the long-standing marriage of data and flying machines – a union that has spawned a steady stream of aviation progress for over a century.
I have been fascinated by the connection between data and aviation for decades. Today I am the CEO of JETNET, a company that collects, analyzes and converts business aviation data into market intelligence.
Flight data is used by aircraft manufacturers to determine which designs and features will appeal to potential buyers. It can contain important information about an aircraft’s maintenance life cycle, where it is located and how many times it has flown. Analyzing flight data can reveal an aircraft’s pedigree and current value, reducing uncertainty for buyers, sellers, operators and brokers.
My company and others also use flight data to understand the complex relationships between aircraft use and larger trends in the broader economy. When patterns of flight activity shift significantly, it is usually a clear indication that business strategy is also shifting.
I see more and more investors using alternative data in their quest for “alpha” – the elusive advantage that will help them beat the market. In addition to using data, including alternative data, to anticipate shifts in aircraft usage and flight destinations, I expect an increased use of artificial intelligence (which is essentially data analysis on steroids) to improve the maintenance, operations and design of improve aircraft. Major aircraft manufacturers and suppliers are already combining digital twin technology with machine learning techniques to prevent unplanned downtime through predictive maintenance strategies. They use advanced data analysis techniques to predict when aircraft components and aircraft systems will fail — long before they actually fail.
Not surprisingly, the data generated by aircraft has become a reliable source of economic value. Will there come a point in the future when an aircraft’s data is worth as much as the aircraft itself? The idea is not as far-fetched as it may seem. I can easily envision a derivatives market based on aircraft data, similar to commodity exchanges and futures markets.
Historical flight data itself is a valuable asset. In addition to revealing details about the past, it illuminates a path to the future. My company’s experience with flight data indicates that business aviation will continue to contribute to the wider economy by enabling the kind of high-speed travel and personal communication that rapidly changing businesses and competing organizations need. Flight data will play a vital role in helping the aviation business community achieve its goal: net zero CO2 emissions by 2050.
Flight data will also determine what the next generation of business jets looks like and how those planes are powered. Designers and inventors are already developing electrically powered business jets that vertical take-off and landing. Some manufacturers supply fleets with hydrogen powered aircraft. Major airlines are heading towards replace fossil fuels of sustainable aviation fuels.
All these developments depend on data. Much has changed since the Wright brothers flew Kitty Hawk, but the relationship between data and aviation remains untouched by the passage of time.
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