Spike Aerospace is building a new supersonic private jet with an innovative addition: live-streaming hi-def screens instead of windows.
The S-512’s exterior will be lined with tiny cameras sending footage to thin, curved displays lining the interior walls of the fuselage. The result will be an unbroken panoramic view of the outside world. And if passengers want to sleep or distract themselves from ominous rainclouds, they can darken the screen or choose from an assortment of ambient images.
Commercial airplane windows function to keep passengers from getting claustrophobic, but they come with a price. Airplanes are not as stable with windows and those windows require “meticulous construction — the ovular shape, small aperture, and double-pane construction are all there to maintain cabin pressure and resist cracking while flying 500 mph at 35,000 feet.”
In order to increase performance, the new supersonic jet was always planned to be windowless. “A few advisers and friends are concerned that there are no windows,” Spike founder Vik Kachoria told WIRED. “But I think that if you give them the screens and give them the visibility, you might be able to get away from that.”
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