Aircraft communications system using whitelists to control access and associated methods

A communications system for an aircraft carrying at least one person having a personal electronic device (PED) for exchanging emails outside the aircraft, the communications system comprising:

• at least one access point in the aircraft for providing a wireless local area network (WLAN) for the PED, with the FED accessing a web-based email prompt via the WLAN;
• an aircraft server in the aircraft cooperating with said at least one access point for determining airborne validation of at least one email server address entered by a corresponding PED via the web-based email prompt;
• a transceiver in the aircraft cooperating with said aircraft server using the at least one airborne validated email server address;
• and
• at least one email server having a firewall associated therewith on the ground for receiving the at least one airborne validated email server address to determine ground validation of the at least one airborne validated email server address, and providing email access for the corresponding PED for which the entered at least one email server address has both airborne and ground validation.

A method for operating a communications system for an aircraft carrying at least one person having a personal electronic device (PED), the communications system comprising an aircraft server in the aircraft, a transceiver in the aircraft, and a ground server on the ground, the method comprising:

• operating the PED in the aircraft for entering at least one ground server address;
• operating the aircraft server in the aircraft for determining airborne validation of at least one ground server address entered via a corresponding PED;
• operating the transceiver in the aircraft to cooperate with the aircraft server for communicating using the at least one airborne validated ground server address;
• and
• operating the ground server on the ground to receive the at least one airborne validated ground server address to determine ground validation of the at least one airborne validated ground server address, and to provide ground access for the corresponding PED for which the entered at least one ground server address has both airborne and ground validation.