GDC Completes Ka-Band Install on Executive 787

 GDC Technics has completed the first Ka-Band satcom installation on an executive-configured Boeing 787. The installation uses Honeywell’s JetWave terminal to link to Inmarsat’s Jet ConneX satellite network, providing “in-flight connectivity that is as good as [that] at home and in [the]office,” said GDC Technics’ general partner Mohammed Alzeer. The service supports video streaming, Voice over IP, live TV, VPN and other bandwidth-intensive applications.

A second executive 787 is currently having the global (polar regions excluded) satcom system installed at the completion specialist’s Fort Worth, Texas headquarters, and a third installation is slated for an in-service ACJ319 this quarter during a scheduled maintenance check. All three installations incorporate a separate Iridium antenna for connectivity over the poles via that network’s satellites.

GDC has STCs for the JetWave on BBJ747-300/400; BBJ777-200/300; BBJ737-600/700/900; and the ACJ319/320 airframes. Ann ACJ330 STC is “30 percent done,” Alzeer said. The company has invested some $11 million developing the approvals over the last two years, he said, rather than waiting for customers to ask for the installations.