Truly excellent idea. A lovely service for cusotmers.

Yes, this idea has often occurred to me, and it seems like a way for an airline to differentiate itself. What would you rather watch: the airline version of "Booty Call" or the endlessly fascinating aerial view of the world.

Great idea but would only be applicable during and shortly after landing and take off...once the plane is at crusing altitude it has cloud cover below it...unless you are flying over mountain tops on a clear day.

I think this is a truly great idea. Sure, as someone has commented, a lot of the time there would be only cloud cover, but there are plenty of times when there is plenty to see. I recall seeing the fountain in Lake Geneva from a plane at full cruising flight, and the Eiffel Tower on the same flight. But how many others on the same flight missed that? Would be even more interesting than those maps which show you where you are going.

Great idea and one that I would like myself. However, I think you will find some security concerns with this idea. Many governments will not like the idea that a spy or a terrorist could just buy a commercial plane ticket to get pictures of sensitive areas.The security issues are not impossible to overcome, but just need some constraints built in.

It's a gr8 idea, but it has already been done by Emirates airline. You can view the world below through your seat entertainment screen. It's doesn't work very well when there is any cloud. It's a gr8 idea to take photo's - very novel. What about if they had a movable camera that a crew member could control that could focus on a specific landmark (eg the Eiffel tower) for a prolonged time so you could get a better view for longer or passengers can pay to take control of the camera.

I would start with something simpler -- I'd like to see a moving map display of what I can see out of the window. Yes, I realize that the system would need to know which side of the plane you are on.

I took a GPS+laptop with a reasonable basemap on a flight recently, and many of the flight attendants came by to look at it. They said that lots of people bring GPS receivers, but this was the first moving map display.

Failing the airlines providing the idea above, then I'd like to find some software that would give me the display. The problem with most mapping products is that the view is vertically down -- which is not remotely what you have from an airplane!

What also might be possible, if there is a omni-directional camera mounted on the top/bottom of the plane, so passengers can have a full 360 degree view of the scene. I've seen camera's like this online. The camera, would feed all it's camera positions into a computer, and each passenger can look 'around' without the camera's actually moving. It would also be cool, if goggle tv's were interfaced with this system, for the full immersive effect. The a gps/map in a HUD form would also be neat. I'm sure all this is possible, but years, from implementation. As stated, it may pose a security risk. It would also be nice if there was some sort of choice in movies, or something, say if there were several you could choose from and watch without interferring with another passegers choice.

This idea is already being implemented in the Airbus A380 that is set to be the next-gen commercial aircraft (much larger than the Boeing 747s). They aren't set to reach the economy class, though (yet).

He, guys, be real. You're calling for SERVICE. From the airlines?.... Otherwise, could be fun for many folks, although I can't see any real need as far as I am concerned.

Good idea. I actually saw it, projected on screen like a movie, in flight on an AirEurope plane (Airbus, I think). Even if passengers don't get to shoot photos, perhaps flight personnel may shoot stills - or short MPEGs - where they can and the airline may then present/sell/email the stuff to passengers. This may get around the security issue.

I actually saw good desert images, on a clear day, from cruise altitude. Got blurred, rushy and scary close to landing.

Also Finnair (the airline for Finland) has this on some of their newer planes. It's basically on during take off and landing at least. As a geography student it's a great little extra to travelling and you don't have to stretch your neck to see out the window anywhere.

Very good idea, and probably some have started. But theer are countries whwer its not legal, and security isseues will comew in. But if its on, then , add the tag on of GPS, and maybe instead of the drab gps map tracking flight path, use good sat pix.Chatujye

truly brilliant...maybe just in first class tho; if nobody on the plane took a still, the expense would be un-compinsated...or maybe if you payed, say, five-ten bucks for the constant feed, and then each picture was, i dunno, two bucks, and first class came with the feed and pics were two bucks or something.

Some airlines have a map showing the route, location and other general fight information. Combined with a video might be interesting. As a frequent traveler, I'm annoyed at the sudden burst over the PA system from the captian descibing where we are and our crusing altitude.

RX7's improvement to this idea would be quite fun... With a 180° fish-eye lens facing up at the top of the tail, another facing down underbelly, the passenger with VR googles would experience actually flying (him-)herself, and would not even see any of the plane, as it would be hidden between the two lenses... Some 360° movies (more exactly 4-PI-steradian movies) have been made this way, with 2 180° lenses facing opposite directions, and both cameras, their stands, operators, technical director, assistants, and the whole team cramped in the 2-meter gap between the two lenses!Only takeoff and landing would be quite odd: landing gears would pop down from nothingness around you!

Philip's map idea would be great also, provided good quality satellite maps. Definitely much better than flashy maps displayed in most planes. And would solve the security issues, too (just grey-out secret places). At high altitude, I'm not sure the fact that images are taken vertically makes much of a difference.

Merging these two ideas (satellite maps and VR) would give a reasonably good experience, be it day, night, cloudy or sunny...

I like this idea, but there's another possible twist that hasn't been mentioned in any of the comments. Why limit its availability to just passengers?

There's lots of cool, easily accessible aerial & satellite imagery out there these days--think NASA's WorldWind application, the satellite imagery in Google Maps, etc. However, it quickly goes out of date, especially for urban areas. Google's imagery of downtown Boston, for example, is about 4 years old.

Why not use the thousands of commercial planes in the skies to gather real-time or near-real-time imagery of whatever areas they're flying over, and make it available to the public?

I'd love to be able to stargaze on the night flights. Just think with less atmosphere and fewer clouds how nice it would be. Maybe change the paradigm from "red-eye" to "stargazer" flights? Or how about Solar Viewing with filters during the day? Watch solar prominences from 30,000 feet. Hot stuff.

Not to burst anyone's bubble or anything, but I would find more use in a broadband internet connection where I could view pictures of anything in the world at any time. Whether I happen to be flying above it at that moment is not very important. Distance and proximity to important landmarks is a relative concept.

That is a Vulcan perspective I suppose.

Great idea. I have flown over Niagra Falls, the Rocky Mountains, downtown manhattan, Disney World, and the Grand Canyon (among other places). I would love to have gotten pictures of all of them! Unfortunately the best I could do was some cheesey snapshots out the windows. I would definitely paid a few bucks for a JetCam picture.

And by the way... for those who are thinking it could show some special pictures of military bases or other secret installations... the governments owning these locations usually don't allow commerial flights to pass over them (and usually not within miles of them). Try flying over Washington DC and see what happens!

...and when the plane loses power, or the controls fail, the horrified passengers could watch the screen as the ground rushes up at them...

Cathay Pacific has external cameras on their trans-Pacific and longer-haul flights within Asia. As I recall, though, this was only available on their new Airbus 380s. I don't recall seeing it on the new 777s, but I could be mistaken. I liked the comment of another who suggested that this would be neat if available over the internet.

I've had the pleasure of experiencing this. Flying China Air/777 between Taipei and Hong Kong we were seated in the first row behind the forward galley. In front of us was an ~15" LCD panel that swapped between a forward looking camera and a downward looking camera. The views were interesting while taxiing about. Once airborne I felt a bit queasy when looking at the not so distant ground below. In full flight over the China Sea there wasn't much to look at, either sea or ambiguous clouds. It was an interesting experience but should possibly be configured so that those who don't wish to view aren't forced to. [sure we could have been reseated but we didn't know that's the scenery that would play on the LCD.]

Every time I fly I've thought of something like this. I'm a geography geek (according to my wife) so I'd love to know what I'm looking at. My idea was to use the window to display maps. The passenger can turn it on and off at their leisure. When they want to know what they are looking at out the window they can trigger maps similar to the overlays in Google Earth that would display to them borders, roads, topography, elevations, towns, golf courses, etc. They select which overlays they want. I would imagine that this is technically possible with GPS technology. The plane would be at a known position at all times and its direction and elevation is known, so those coordinates could be linked to the view out your specific window giving you an accurate map.This is probably way to expensive to do but why not?

i think this idea is great and its good to hear that some airlines provide some sort of view from the passengers seat. with airplanes though, i think we should keep them as "simple" as possible. adding one more thing, would make people who are affraid to fly worry more. One more thing that could short out the whole system.

Well good idea, but the Japanese beat you to it my friend... I used to live in Japan for 3 years, of course with that comes allot of travel back home for the holiday's and such. Most airlines are your run of the mill US style boring flight, however JAL (Japanese Airlines) have some of there planes upgraded.. Personal in seat plasma screen and in-flight views/status (very cool).. It displays two things half the screen is a live feed from the front of the plane.. the other half is the flight status..
Time at departure Location:
Time at arrival Location:
Time plane took off:
EST Time of planes arrival:
current time and % of flight completed/remaining
temp at both locations
A map showing the course and the planes current location
All of these features were very neat to track.. Every time i flew on JAL it always seemed like the 16 hr flight went by much quicker.. Sadly the camera's were never any good except on take off and landing... (I never saw much in LA anyways, probably all the smog)

A photographer's opinion: Such a view would be much less satisfying than one might imagine. The problem is the difference between how people see and how a camera sees. People look at what they want to see, but a camera encompasses everything in its view. A wide angle lens includes a lot, but everything appears so tiny as to be almost invisible. Fisheye is worse. A telephoto lens can bring distant details closer, but from the air it would have to be constantly monitored and redirected toward the interesting stuff. Besides, atmospheric haze is thick enough that everything 5 miles down would be coated with a bluish layer and have to be especially compelling to be worth the effort.

Seeing with your eyes is infinitely more satisfying than seeing a two dimensional picture, so all but the most thrilling views, such as great mountain ranges, would appear mundane and not nearly as attractive as the postcard views you've already seen. It's kind of fun to crane your neck out an airplane window to see Niagara Falls, but as an image on a screen it would disappoint. Next time you're on an airplane look out the window and imagine what you see, haze and all, on a 12" screen in front of you. Except for takeoff and landing it would not be very interesting.

... and they can put a roving camera in the aisle and then the airline co. could see you prints of the exciting things you flew over with your picture on it- just like they do on roller coaster rides!

A gimbled camera might be used for taking pictures for passenger enjoyment and profit. But add an infrared sensor and airplanes routinely flying over the country could be scanning for forest fires and catch them before they become large enough to be difficult to control; and identify their location and boundaries precisely.

I was on a flight into Denver when I looked out the window I saw a forest fire that was about 10 acres in size. When we landed, I called 911 to report the fire and gave them the Flight number, airline, and time before landing to help them localize the fire. I never knew what happened afterwards. Had the plane been equiped with a camera and broad-field infrared sensor, fire fighters could have been dispatched immediately.

Maybe the camera is on the retractable landing gear...

Carrying this idea one step further, remove the windows from the fuselage. It results in a lighter, stronger airframe, less costly, less maintenance, resulting in more profits, and lower cost flights.

Great idea! Why Not? Run the video on the little TV screens for all to see. If there's cloud cover, so be it, however, if not, it gives everyone on the plane a window set and the cost to implement is marginal. I’d value any airline that added that as a service to us sardines squeezed into the rear of the plane.

Again, great idea!

I am an avid photo bug and I regularly carry my Nikon D70 w/ telephoto lens with me on trips. I travel alot and have taken hundreds of photos of different cities during different weather conditions and have some amazing pictures. Last Friday night I was on a Continental flight out of Newark and I heard the flight attendant tell a passenger that they were not allowed to take any photos until they were above 10,000 feet??? I had never heard that before, I don't know if it is a new homeland security requirement or what??

I like it. Good novelty idea, a way to make a plane flight more meaningful and memorable.

Idea allready used years ago...Go and fly to srilanka

I don't understand why this idea is getting a good rating. Cameras are always operating... at least during long distance flights. The planes with the TV have that functionality. But as already mentioned... there is cloud cover almost all the time. Sorry but the idea has actually been in practice for the last five years at least.

hmm, interesting, but i may be wrong, but i belive Emirates already do this? I guess not all airlines do this as maby, terrorists could see through the camera were abouts they are and co-ordinate their attack better? Maby this is why it is not left on? But also, remember the cameras are at the front of the plane, not the side, if you were coming quite wide you wouldnt really get a good view from the font. It would be better looking at it on the side. But i have heard that some nice Captains, on short flights turn the plane around so that both sides can see it.

This is a great idea, and definitely one that would enhance an otherwise boring experience. Along the same general lines; Delta is now offering satellite TV on some of their flights, as well a flight-tracking program (map, flight information, ETA). Depending on how it would affect the aircraft's flight performance, you could even have an omni-directional orb (with many different camera's in it) that would allow for passengers to virtually pan around. Include cockpit chatter, and place cameras on the tail and nose...and you've got yourself a good time (during the day).

The camera and display would have to be of a high quality, with sharp resolution. A good lcd screen would be good, but it would need to be fairly large. Other than that, I believe it would be great when combined with a continuous map readout. The passenger could select from several cameras or the map readout.

I agree, and as United Airlines provides the cockpit channel on the headsets, and Air Canada offers the personal video stations some things are already in place so it wouldn't be that difficult.

Anything to add entertainment options to flights is a great option. Also generating more awe and respect for our environment through beauty appreciation is a wonderful concept. Thanks

Over the western part of the country where cloud cover is rarely more than 10% this is great and it would even work well in the middle west and eastern US much of the time and better if the passenger could pick the moment of exposure.

Simple, but fantastic idea. There was a time when passengers here in the UK were actually invited into the cockpit for a pilot's eyeview of the 30,000ft vista unfolding before them. Sadly, 9/11 - and other acts of aerial terror - killed that idea stone dead.Providing there are no security implications, I would welcome more information - verbal or via a video stream.In-flight entertainment can have its limitations.

I do not see an economic incentive for the airlines. Planes would need to be pre equipped with cameras at a time when they are removing pillows, food, and blankets from their aircraft. This is a significant up-front investment that will not drive more fare paying passengers. Am I going to take a Continental flight from SFO to BWI for $400 over a SW flight for $300 because Continental has cameras? It is all about maximizing aircraft capacity at the lowest operating cost.