This Business Jet Ditches Windows In Favor Of A Panoramic Display

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We’re not super crazy about the tiny windows on planes anyway, so we won’t shed a tear at the idea that the upcoming Spike S-512 supersonic business jet is planning to ditch them altogether. But don’t imagine its well-heeled flyers will stare at a blank wall. Instead, the plan is to have large panoramic displays mirror the outside view, through cameras placed all around the plane’s exterior. Not only will the view be more spectacular, it can be replaced with anything else at the touch of a button. Want to catch some Z’s under a calm starry night? No problem.

Not only is it a novel and impressive idea, the company also informs us that shedding the windows will also save weight. That should help it along in getting to its cruising speed of Mach 1.6. That’s 1,218 mph for those of you keeping count, and if you thought a supersonic business jet with panoramic displays instead of windows would cost a pretty penny, you wouldn’t be wrong: the expected price tag will be somewhere around $60 million and $80 million, when it supposedly comes out in 2018.

[ Manufacturer Website ] VIA [ Engadget ]

4 COMMENTS

  1. I have a problem with that plan from a safety point of view: the reason you open your window blinds for takeoff and landing is to let light in in case of a crash that causes electrical failures. Without windows, you’d have no light, and therefore nothing to guide you out of the wreckage.

  2. Emergency lights still require power and the assumption they weren’t destroyed by the impact. It’s less important on a smaller jet, but larger ones especially need a failsafe; nothing electronic can provide the reliability of actual windows.

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