Fernando's Logbook
I fly a plane called Saoirse to places most people drive past, and I bring back the thing the view was hiding. Not the postcard. The story underneath it, the one most people walk straight past. Some of it will make you want to go. Some of it will stay with you for reasons you won't expect. You don't need a plane. You just need to wonder what you've been driving past.
Fernando's Logbook
How Starlink is (was) Changing General Aviation
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Welcome back to The Pilot’s Logbook - a podcast companion for private pilots in the UK and Europe.
Have you ever dreamed of sharing the skies with your dog? In this episode, we chat with commercial French pilot Antoine Gallet, who has mastered the art of flying with his whippet, Lilou.
Join us as we discuss:
- The incredible bond that comes from adventuring with your pet.
- The practical challenges of flying with a dog in the cockpit and how to solve them.
- Crucial safety considerations, from harnesses to planning, to keep your pet safe.
- How Antoine’s experience can help you prepare for your own flights with your pet.
Also, in this episode:
- We cover the news you should be aware of. Pilot's Tip of the Day presented by Echelon Air: Philippe Polman shares with you a way to make your flights less stressful.
- "Ask Amanda!": Amanda Rhodes, a NATS Air Traffic Controller, answers our listeners' questions and shares valuable tips.
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We believe the best adventures are shared from one human to another. That’s why everything in Fernando’s Logbook is created entirely by talented people and artists. We do not use Generative AI at any stage.
Intro
SPEAKER_04Hi there. Just a quick update before we get into this episode. We recorded this chat about Starlink a few months ago when it was easily the best bargain for us in aviation. Since then, the landscape has changed quite a bit. Starlink has pushed the price up five times what it was and cut the data allowance in half. It's reached a point where a lot of us pilots have actually decided to stop using it simply because it isn't affordable anymore. I still think the tech is fascinating and the conversation is worth a listen. But the mass is definitely a different story now. I just want to make sure you had the latest before we get started. Here's the episode.
SPEAKER_01Welcome to the Pilot's Logbook, a podcast companion for private pilots in the UK and Europe. Each episode is packed with practical tips, inspiring chats with pilots and members of our community, gear reviews, and we'll reveal exciting destinations you can fly to directly. Whether you're a seasoned aviator or just starting your journey, we hope you find our show as informative as it is inspirational. I'm Joy, your co-pilot for the Pilot's Love Book.
SPEAKER_04And I'm Fernando, your host and fellow pilot.
SPEAKER_01In today's show, we're gonna tell you all about in-flight Wi-Fi and how satellite internet is changing general aviation.
SPEAKER_04Over the next few months
Ask Amanda
SPEAKER_04I'll dive deep into those trips and share all the best fly-in guides. But right now, if you are planning a trip, our popular Le Touquet Paris Plage guide has been updated with new restaurants and hotel suggestions. You can find the link for that comprehensive guide in the episode notes. Now, in today's show, we are going to share everything you need to know about installing Starlink on your airplane on a very affordable budget and in less than 15 minutes. In the words of many pilots I know, this is a game changer. But before that, the amazing and friendly NAS air traffic controller Amanda Rhodes is back with a fantastic piece of advice for all of us pilots. We will also highlight some news that you absolutely need to be aware of if you fly in the UK.
SPEAKER_00Ask Amanda. Hello everyone, Amanda here. I hope you're all keeping well. So I wanted to drop in and share an interaction that I had on Luton Radar a few weeks ago. It's a nice sunny day, and I had light aircraft traffic call up requesting a basic service and a Luton Transit. So my next call was to issue a squawk and pass the QH. So in this case, 4670 Luton QH1014 pass your message. The readback that I got from the aircraft was the squawk was incorrect and also the QH. So my next call was to go in and confirm and reiterate the correct squawk and the correct QH. When they realized they had read both back incorrectly, they were so apologetic. My message is you never have to be sorry if you read something back incorrectly. If ATC asks you to confirm something, we are not trying to trip you up, I promise you. We need to ensure that you are on the correct squawk with the correct pressure setting. So we will confirm that. Never feel bad if if this happens to you. There is no reason to feel bad. We are all at different levels, we all have different capacities. There's so many variables, and we are more than happy to uh ask you to confirm something. So a hint or a tip that I can give you from a Luton perspective is the Luton squawks, and all the time that I've done Luton radar, the squawk range hasn't really changed. So our squawks run 4670 through to 4676 inclusive. So if you're looking for zone transit of the Luton control zone, there's an incredibly high probability the squawk you are going to get will be starting with 467. You're listening for the fourth digit to remember. So that can take a little bit of pressure off. I'm not saying that you may never get a different squawk, or anything can happen. But in this case, 4670 through to 4676. Regarding the QH, on a busy day, you may have heard it. We are giving the QH at regular intervals. And if you've been on the QH of a previous sector, there's a high probability there's not going to be much in it. So you can also listen out for the QH ahead of time and you may already have the correct QH set when we call you. So that is also something else. Just take a little bit of pressure off. Never be afraid to ask. Never be afraid when we ask you to confirm something either. This light aircraft, after we got the correct squawk, correct QH clearance given, they got transit, they were happy, not a problem at all. It's our job. It's part of ensuring the safety of everyone and the airspace in and around it.
News
SPEAKER_00So I hope that's helped alleviate a little bit of fears again, but all at different levels. Some have lower hours. You could be a student, you may not have flown in a while, you may not have spoken to air traffic control in years, if at all. So never be afraid and never think we are trying to trip you up, because we're not. We just want to double check and never feel bad. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day. You take good care, and any questions, you know where I am.
SPEAKER_01Thanks so much, Amanda. That was great. Now, if you've got any questions for Amanda, send them our way.
Starlink
SPEAKER_01The easiest way is to scroll down right now and look for the send a text link in the show notes for this episode. Just tap that link, send your question, and we'll be sure to get back to you with a reply in the next episode.
SPEAKER_04Alright, let's talk news. And if you haven't heard, please note that on the 1st of October, the CAA is introducing significant changes to general aviation pilot licensing and training. These changes affect a wide range of areas, including flight training, license revalidation requirements, using VFR moving map devices in training, and many more. These all comes after a two-year period of public consultations and reviews. The CAA has put together an excellent webinar about the changes, and you can watch it right now on our website. And now for the main theme of the show, let's dive into a topic that's coming up more and more in our emails and messages lately: getting satellite internet on our small planes. Starlink has been available for a while for business and commercial airplanes. But with the introduction of the new smaller Starlink Mini, many pilots have realized the potential for general aviation. And this opens up some interesting possibilities. For example, your passengers can finally get access to streaming, gaming, and even video calls. And for us in the cockpit, well, we can pull down updated weather information, tuffs, metars, wherever we need them. So for this segment, we want to lay out all the details. How much does it cost? How to decide if this option is right for your flying, and if so, what you need to get it set up quickly. I called up our regular guest and founder of Echelon Air, Philippe Poeman.
SPEAKER_03Hi Philippe. Hey Fernando, how's the flying going? All good, thank you.
SPEAKER_04Tackling my instrument rating finally. Oh, that's awesome. Look, thank you for taking the time to talk to me about internet on the plane. Um, I was browsing a few forums recently and checking my WhatsApp messages, and everyone is talking about having internet on board, and in particular a word is is coming up quite frequently, which is Starlink. Oh yeah, it's a godsend. I'm hoping you can help me and our listeners learn more about Starlink and Wi-Fi in the airplane. How does it work? Which gear we have to buy, and how much does it cost? Can you help us, Philippe?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, of course. Uh, I mean, having in our segment, right, as little airplane pilots, having internet is an absolute game changer in how we make aviating decisions. I love it. And Starlink or any internet. You know, before, you know, you you and I both fly Ciruses and we had the uh Garmin Connect, which was wow, like again, supercharged our decision making in the cockpit uh from 30, 40 years ago. Uh and we had it was through the Iridium system. We could download weather uh periodically and and get get you know updates if you were on a longer flight uh outside of cell phone coverage for for your phone. Um, but made made making decisions and and uh planning your descents and and arrivals uh just that much easier, right? Um if the weather was changing en route, you could make decisions before you actually encountered that weather. And so that was super nice. Now when you get it you know effectively real time through uh Starlink service, it's really wow. I love it.
SPEAKER_04So I understand. Starlink is basically uh internet service provider that works via satellites.
SPEAKER_03So there are like thousands of satellites in the air, is that correct? The number, I have no idea. But you do see them on a nice clear night sky, flying overhead and in trails of six or eight, however many little boxes, all in a sequence. But yeah, it's basically it's internet everywhere. And uh depending on the subscription, which I'm happy to go through some of those with you, uh depending on the subscription, you can have it uh over land, you can have it at home in a stationary spot, or you can have it while you're moving, you know, if you're in a camper van, or in our case, in an airplane, um, and then at different speeds as well. So it's uh it's a reliable and a high speed internet.
SPEAKER_04So how it works is that you buy a kit and you put it on your airplane. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so so if you look at Starlink and aviation, you'll see you know 15, 20,000, 30,000 pound installation options. And these ones are really geared towards your business jet who who are uh significant users, right? And these are big dishes that are that have high bandwidth capabilities. It's a little bit overkill, if I'm honest, for our little single engine pistons. Of course. And actually probably would detract from our weight and balance more than it would add to our the advantages of connectivity. But even a Starlink Mini, which is just a tiny little dish, it weighs I don't know how much, but under a kilo. And uh, you know, you can just you can mount it in your plane or you can put it on your dash, and it's a very simple solution.
SPEAKER_04Yes, because I've noticed that uh some people are installing it uh on top of the the avionics on the dashboard. I'll I'm going to call it dashboard. Uh some people are installing it on some windows, for example, in the Ceros, there is that window in the back, and uh through some suction systems they are placing the the dish there. Is that is that the way you see people using it?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I well I think it depends on on what you're using it for, right? And uh if you're an aircraft owner and you're flying the same airplane all the time, then uh if there's a window that faces up, right, in the back of the plane, I would argue that that's better. Why? Because if you put it in the dash, right, in the front window, you're you're obscuring a little bit of visibility. Yes, right. Now, I fly a lot of different types of airplanes and you we're in the ferry business among flight instruction business, and so there's lots of different airplanes. I don't want to have a dish in each of our in each of our flight school airplanes because ultimately that's not we don't really need that for flight training as much as it's a nice to have. But uh when we're doing a ferry, for example, then I do want a nice internet connection, especially when I'm cresting out over the uh the coast of Greenland, you know, and I'm at 10,000 feet and I can now start checking in real time the weather in Greenland or in Iceland, you know, to make the right decisions where there's not that many options. So then what I do is I actually put it on the front dash and I just lay it out very carefully so it doesn't scratch the windows. Uh everybody who's listening and who's flown with me knows I am very, very anti-putting things up there. Um but uh I have designed little uh rubber things to protect the corners of my Starlink so that if it were to slide down, it doesn't actually damage the window or scratch the window. Um so if you're putting it on the dash, I would certainly recommend that. But also if there's turbulence, then then the then it will sort of free flow. What I haven't been comfortable doing is mounting it on that front window, again, because of visibility issues. So I've actually never done that, and I I can't recommend it. I have uh on a uh in a series with quite the big windows, and at the top of the door windows, they kind of curl up just a smidge. I have mounted them on the side window and received generally pretty good internet. So it doesn't have to be facing up straight to the sky on the on the Starlink Mini, but you do sacrifice a little bit of bandwidth and uh a little bit of internet speed. But I guess no internet is better than, or some internet rather is better than no internet.
SPEAKER_04So for those that have never seen this dish, it's a kind of a square, it's quite small. And uh I assume we obviously need to power this dish in order to work. And am I right to say there are two options? Either you can connect it to a USB connection on your own plane, or I think the most popular solution that I've seen is uh a power bank.
SPEAKER_03The the power requirement of the Starlink is 64 watts. And so it's quite a high power draw. And most USB ports, the USB Cs even, even the modern ones, only maybe go up to 15 watts, and the high power ones are generally 60 watts. So what I've seen is I've seen 15, 60, and then 100, and you're gonna have to get 100 watt output, right? So not not every power bank can do that, first of all. And not every USB port can do that. It has to be a supercharged USB port. And I think the ones that are in the airplanes generally are not supercharged. And so that won't be enough power from a standard power bank or from a standard USB port. It won't be enough power to power the actual Starlink. So that's point number one. It has to be over 64 watts. The one that I uh I recently was on a ferry with uh with an owner, and it was an anchor prime battery pack, just a little thing that looks like a small brick. Um, and what was nice about it was that the Starlink was mounted in the back window with the power bank also in the back window, always plugged in. And he could use his phone to switch the power bank on and off and to check the level of the power so that on the I mean, our you know, we were doing a ferry across the Atlantic and there was a four and a half hour leg. So it would have had to be quite a big power bank to give us internet the whole time. But also we didn't need internet the whole time, right? Like we we're not there watching movies, like we're flying an airplane, so let's just focus on the flying the airplane bit. But it's nice to get some data hit so we can be regularly updated about what's happening on our next leg of the flight, or so that we can send a quick message saying all ops normal to ATC or to a loved one back home. So um, so he with that Anchor Prime he was able to download the app on his phone and then switch the power bank on and off when we wanted that data hit, which was the first time I'd seen that, but but a really, really nice feature.
SPEAKER_04And by the way, uh I'm going to leave links on our website and the episode description to all the accessories and products we are discussing in these episodes. So you have the dish, you have the power bank, you will need to install it, as we mentioned. Uh, you can either leave it on the dashboard or have a more permanent system to fix it to a window of the airplane.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I've seen on the power side also, Fernando, I've seen I've seen plugged-in systems as well, where they've put a special port and then connect it to the non-essential bus, um, which is just from the back. And it's it's a very easily removable uh plug, but that is actually built into the plane. So you're taking airplane power out, and that seems like a really nice feature. Still, you have the option to switch it off, right, by switching off the non-essentials if you needed to. Um, and uh so if you know if you have an alternator failure or some sort of a power failure, you can still disconnect it.
SPEAKER_04So apart from the dish and the power solution that um you decide to have, is that any other piece of equipment you need to have?
SPEAKER_03So the the dish, the power, and then you need a mount. There's a few there's a few options for mounts. So there's the suction cups, which I mean there's there's many that are designed specifically for for the uh Starlink mini out there. Um suction cups, they uh two bits of feedback that I've I haven't actually experienced this myself, but one is that if you go up to high altitude and it's quite cold, you have a big temperature gradient and the suction cups may come loose. Okay, so that's thing number one, although I've I never experienced that with my suction cups. And then feedback number two is that if you're regularly removing the dish and removing the suction cups, you're putting quite a lot of stress on what is ultimately plexiglass windows, right? And so I've heard, although I've never seen a picture myself, of the windows becoming delaminated. So if you're flying maybe in particular an older airplane, right, that's had maybe been sitting out in the sun for a little bit and the windows are already maybe a little bit weak, then just be cautious that uh pulling off those suctions may delaminate your window. And obviously, you don't want that to happen.
SPEAKER_04No, that's not a good idea. So once everything is in place, you need a subscription, obviously. And and Starlink offers a huge range of subscriptions, and I've seen uh countless messages of uh colleagues debating which one is the best. I've got a feeling that you can answer that question pretty quickly. Uh what's the plan that you recommend? And and bear in mind we are talking about Starlink, but uh there are other solutions out there, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. I mean, right now Starlink is sort of the the first mover advantage, right? And uh Amazon also has one coming. Um I think they've already launched some of the satellites, but I don't think the service is actually active yet. So, and maybe there's you know a third or fourth competitor coming to the market.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_03But right now, Starlink does indeed have the first mover. So there's there's basically two uh subscriptions for the Starlink, and it depends a little bit on your on your airplane, so how fast you're flying, and it depends on where you're flying. So on the personal subscription side, there's the Rome subscription, which is Rome 50 gigabytes, and it's at the moment it's 50 pounds a month uh here in the UK, um, which gets you up to 350 miles per hour of speed. Yeah, it's pretty good for a piston, right? Um and uh but it's only on land. And then there's limitations when you're traveling outside of your home country. So there's data on that, right? So if you're mostly traveling, if you have a UK subscription and you're mostly traveling up and down between Scotland and and southern England, let's say, then a 50 gig Rome is is generally plenty. But as soon as you cross over the channel, the coast line, then the service will cut off. Okay, you can get a an add-on, which is ocean priority, which eliminates that. So that's what a lot of people do.
SPEAKER_04So Rome plus the add-on, ocean priority is what most people will be will be using.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and that's if you're you know if you're flying into the continent or you're traversing the Bay of Biscay, or you're flying around you know, up to Denmark, and you want to cross the uh the English Channel, or you're flying down in the Mediterranean and you know you're flying to Olba, you know, then then you definitely you'll need that ocean priority subscription. What's nice about the subscription is you can turn it on and Off as well.
SPEAKER_04Oh.
SPEAKER_03So if you are doing a lot of intensive flying in the summer months, but then in the winter months, you're maybe just doing some more localized, like engine maintenance flying, then you can s then and you don't need Starlink, perhaps, then you can s you can pause a subscription and reactivate it when you're heavy user again. So the second subscription is then it's in the business category. It's called global priority. And there it's also you can buy it in 50 gigabyte packages. Um at the moment it's 206 pounds a month. And then you have ocean, you have the global priority, so you are c sort of covered around the world. And frankly, that's the one that I have because we are regularly using it across the Atlantic. And and you're also you have speeds up to 550 miles an hour, right? And so 350 is enough for us in most of the piston fleet. But as soon as you go into the turbine fleet, let's say you're flying in a TBM, right? You are right at the cusp of 350 miles an hour. Yeah. And if you just have even a 10 knot tailwind, it puts you right over and you'll lose internet. So then you're in the global priority, which is on the business side.
SPEAKER_04So Philippe, if I decide to install Starlink on my plane, I would say I would go for the Rome, which is £50 a month with 50 gig, and I would need to activate the Ocean Priority because I I I go to France quite quite often. And uh am I right to say that the Ocean Priority has an additional cost?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. I think at the moment it's just under two pounds per gigabyte. Okay. Where you're using the Ocean Priority service. But again, you can deactivate it. And frankly, that's quite a lot, huh? I mean, like one gig is quite a lot of data for the bit you're crossing the channel.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. Especially if you are just checking the weather or uh the no times for your destination.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly. Where it gets a little bit uh not enough is when you have the kids in the back and they're streaming their Netflix.
SPEAKER_04And that's a very important issue I think we should we should talk about. Because I've seen some people talking about how we can watch movies and video calls. And in my head, uh this service for me will be useful for flying purposes, to get my weather, to check no times and uh do some planning, fight planning if if I need to. But I can see my passengers and my wife and my two daughters being very excited with the fact that they can suddenly do some work or do watch some uh Netflix or playing their their games. Is that how you see people using it these days?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's a it's a godsend for the your passenger, for sure. Right. And I mean, I remember on a recent trip, we were coming back from southeastern Europe, and I had my kids and my wife on the plane. It was a f it was a three and a half hour flight, right? And a three and a half hour flight when you're on an airliner, they have their iPads, like that you know, they've downloaded, pre-downloaded their movies and their music, and you're playing board games and uh well, board games, card games, I suppose. Um and you know, you generally you uh as you know you are part of that travel experience in the same way they are. That's not quite true when you're flying an airplane, right? Yes, we're part of that shared travel experience, but also I I do have to fly the airplane, right? So my attention has to be on on that first. Um and and so the family is left a little bit to uh you know sort of entertain themselves a little bit. And having that Starlink or that internet capability uh with and and you know, Starlink Mini, like I'm seeing 110, 120 megabyte download speed when we're up in that's pretty darn quick.
SPEAKER_04Um that's faster than many people's internet at home.
SPEAKER_03Oh, for sure it is, yeah. Definitely faster than a copper line. And so it you know, it if for them it's an absolute godsend uh that the the trip or that flight just passes by at just that much faster.
SPEAKER_04So it looks it looks fantastic. Um are there any cons that you see that people should be aware of?
SPEAKER_03You know, we've just sort of touched on it here, but it's it's on that the how quick we can be distracted as individuals, right? We really have you have to remember when you're flying that your first priority is indeed that flying bit, right? And if you're in congested airspace or you know, if you're uh you don't want to miss a descent point because you're you're stuck on a work call you know, because you have reliable internet. Like that that is I just hope I never read about that in an accident report, right? Use the internet to enhance your flying decision making, uh not not to be as if you're on the ground and fully in work mode.
SPEAKER_04Yes, you are not a passenger on that flight, you are the pilot in command.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we gotta remember that, you know, fly first.
SPEAKER_04Philippe, thank you so much for helping us understand about Starlink, and now we can all install it in our airplanes. A
Links and Resources
SPEAKER_04list of all products and accessories uh that we mentioned are available on our website and on your podcasts app. Please note that the prices will change depending on the country you are in, and they are accurate on the date of this recording, which is September 2025. And currently the Star Mini kit costs £189. Also, there are other players coming to the market, so Starlink won't be the only company providing satellite internet. Philippe, thank you very much for your time. I know you need to head off to a boat show.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to a boat show for the next 10 days. Lucky you. Try something different.
SPEAKER_02I'll I'll probably join you at some point. Oh, I look forward to it. Thank you very much. Thank you, Fernando. Have a great day.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Philippe. This man knows everything about general aviation. Well, this brings us to the end of this episode. I hope you've enjoyed it. You can find links to everything we mentioned over at the pilotlogbookpodcast.com. If you'd like to reach out, ask any questions, or share your experience using Starlink, please use the send us the text option in your podcast app or join the conversation on our episode's website.
SPEAKER_04Also, I am based at Expot Airfield, so if you did it over the next few weeks, please let me know. Coffee and pastry on me.
SPEAKER_01Alright, that's it from us. Until next time, happy flying.
