We thought our readers might like to consider a few off-the-wall predictions for the upcoming year so we asked our contributors for a few ideas and here what we got back:

There will clearly be a big iPod push in IFE next year. Look for more power, more IFE interconnection, and more accommodation of passenger carried entertainment devices. Single aisle planes will benefit.

Watch for one heck of an effort to merge airlines in 2007 putting IFE into another tizzy.

In-flight phoning via personal cell-phones will debut in the US and overseas to much approval from audiences. Text messaging will supplant laptop Internet surfing, for a while.

A big shake-up in in-flight connectivity will bring new providers and new owners and for existing hardware providers.

A passenger will photograph a burning Li-ion battery on a plane using a cell phone camera. Smart action by the crew will keep the problem in-check. The FAA will take active involvement in the solution with much more license and we expect the WAEA and CEA to chime in. (Even if this prediction does not come true, and we hope it does not, we expect there to be more interest in batteries soon.)

If the previous prediction comes true and SC202 weighs in negatively, portable IFE and productivity tools may take a hit.

The first customer for fiber-optic, to-the-seat, IFE will be announced.

A solar, in-seat IFE product will be introduced as well as one with new wireless technology.

A low-cost, GPS based IFE map display device will be introduced.

Airlines will have a challenge finding pilots and as one unsolicited writer put it, “I want to pass on some non-IFE airline data points which I find very interesting. I had a long chat with an AA captain and he makes a really strong statement about how the airline industry has changed in the past 20 years. In mid-November, AA had called back 80 furloughed pilots and only seven (7) agreed to come back. That’s less than 10%!

• AA expected 20%-30% to say no.
• With a 10% acceptance rate, AA will have to go back to all furloughed pilots by Q3 and also go “on the street” to get the pilots it requires for their operation
• UAL recently recalled 350 pilots and were getting only about 20% acceptance. UAL will be required to hire “off the street” by Q2 to get the pilots to fly their airplanes.

There are several factors for the “bloom” being off the rose as it applies to being an airline pilot:

• Line pilots are as fed up with airport security as the passengers are.
• Due to drastically lower, re-negotiated pay scales, pilots can make 10%-20% more money in non-flying jobs. Many pilots have opted for careers in real estate, investment brokering, engineering and sales. One interesting example: sanitary workers (i.e. garbage men) in the northwest suburbs of Chicago make 10% more than an entry-level first officer.

This means there has been and will continue to be a culture change in the airline business.”

To sum up the potential for a weird aviation year, we only have to point to recent events at Chicago’s O Hare airport where airline employees saw a “spinning disc” over the airport…also described as a UFO, but unconfirmed by the FAA. One official saw the humor (we hope) in it all and noted, "To fly 7 million light years to O'Hare and then have to turn around and go home because your gate was occupied is simply unacceptable," he said.

Have a Happy New Year!