AIRCRAFT COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM AND RELATED METHOD FOR COMMUNICATING BETWEEN PORTABLE WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE AND GROUND
An aircraft communications system includes a wireless local area network (LAN) access point positioned within the aircraft that receives and transmits wireless communications to and from at least one portable wireless communications device. A control panel is operatively connected to the wireless LAN access point and positioned within the flight deck of the aircraft. A communications transceiver is operative with the control panel and wireless LAN access point and operative for receiving and transmitting a communications signal between the wireless LAN access point and a ground-based transceiver. Communications between the portable wireless communications device and ground-based transceiver can be controlled from the flight deck using the control panel in one non-limiting example.