ElectronicFlightBag
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FAA clears Surface for takeoff in US cockpits
Begun, the airline tablet wars have? Microsoft's Surface 2 has just joined the iPad on the FAA's list of approved pilot EFBs (Electronic Flight Bags) for all phases of flight. That follows Delta's recent announcement that it would deploy 11,000 of Redmond's hybrid tablets in its cockpits instead of the iPad, which it also considered. Apple's tablet is already used by American Airlines and others, but Delta said it preferred the readability, productivity apps and other features of the Surface 2. Pilots will now be able to switch from heavy paper charts and books, which will supposedly save millions in fuel costs once the transition is complete in 2015. It also finally puts the pilots on parity with their passengers, as the airline was one of the first on board with the expanded use of personal electronics. Update: The Surface 2 has been approved by the FAA, not the Surface Pro 2. We've revised the post to reflect that.
Within two years, every Delta pilot will be using a Surface 2
In an unexpected turn, Delta has informed employees that it will be issuing a Surface 2 running Windows 8.1 RT to every pilot over the next two years. The airline ran an Electronic Flight Bag pilot program with iPads back in 2011, but for reasons unknown, that popular slate has since been scrapped. According to WindowsITPro, Delta had since planned to move forward with Nokia's rumored tablet, but has opted for the Surface 2 instead. The decision follows a move to equip flight attendants with Lumia 820 handsets, which will be used for processing payments and tracking passenger information. Considering the importance of a reliable cockpit device, however, this Surface 2 news is arguably far more significant.
American Airlines finishes rolling out iPad flight bags
Some airlines and aircraft makers have made a big deal of moving to tablet-based flight bags, but few can say they've made a complete switch. American Airlines can -- it just finished deploying iPad-based kits to all its cockpits, which can use the tablets at every stage of flight. The move lets the carrier ditch paper charts and manuals across the board, with an according round of savings in fuel and weight. Regional partners haven't made the leap to digital, although that may come soon: American Eagle Airlines will have the choice of using iPad flight bags starting on July 10th. While most of us in the passenger seats will never notice the difference, the shift will likely help American's bottom line.
Airbus A320 family to use Dell Latitude laptops for electronic flight bags
Airbus isn't putting all its eggs in one basket -- or rather, one bag. While it already has a suite of iPad cockpit apps to assist pilots, the aircraft maker is hedging its bet with a deal to use Dell Latitude laptops as electronic flight bags on the A320 family. Crews will get the Latitude E6330 installed as a Class-2 device that can link up with the A320's avionics; as you'd expect, the PCs will also ship with software for maps, manuals and weather. We've reached out to learn just which carriers are going this route, although possible expansion to other Airbus vehicles could make Dell a common sight at 36,000 feet.
American Airlines: iPads prevent pilot back injuries
Many airlines have embraced the iPad as a way to replace the 40-pound flight bags containing charts and manuals, but until now there's been little talk about how those tablet deployments are going. At the Tablet Strategy conference in New York yesterday, American Airlines VP of Airline Operations Technology Patrick O'Keefe discussed how the airline is aggressively moving ahead with adoption of tablets and the benefits that are already becoming apparent. All of American's 8,600 pilots will have iPads by the end of May, each device containing over 3,000 pages of material that used to be printed out and manually updated. Now the charts and manuals are digitally updated, saving flight crews a lot of busy work. But the biggest win for American is in terms of crew safety, as O'Keefe noted that "We've reduced the single biggest source of pilot injuries, carrying those packs." In addition, "we are now able to save $1 million in fuel costs and stop printing all the page revisions." American has worked closely with Apple to lobby the Federal Aviation Administration to allow more use in flight. As a result, "American is the only carrier in the world with permission to use iPads at all phases of flight, including letting our pilots use them below 10,000 feet," said O'Keefe. That's not to say that American Airlines is an iPad-only company; all 16,000 flight attendants have Samsung Galaxy Note "phablets" that are used for managing food service and seating, or providing gate information for connecting flights.
Airbus Electronic Flight Bag apps save iPad savvy pilots time and paper
For a while now, iPads have been used to replace paper in a pilot's daily duties. Airbus is also looking to further the cause with its Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) applications for the Apple slate. Pretty soon, airlines will have an alternative to existing EFB tech that runs PC operating systems with the "FlySmart with Airbus" app suite. The apps will allow crews to calculate performance and consult manuals without the need to cart around several hundred printed pages. Of course, to gain access to said software in the App Store, you'll need to be a customer in order to obtain the requisite download permissions.
US Air Force Special Ops Command changes iPad purchase plans
Back in December of 2011, the US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) announced that only iPads met the requirements to provide tablet computers to 2,861 crew members. AFSOC had done a three-month test last year with the result that the iPad "outmatched all peer competitors -- not only meeting but exceeding AFSOC mission specifications." Well, the specter of defense budget cuts must be staring AFSOC in the eye, since the command is now reneging on its plans to exclusively purchase iPads as electronic flight bags. AFSOC spokeswoman Major Kristi Beckman says that the command is now going to take an open approach to tablet procurement. Quoted on Nextgov, Beckman said that "During our initial evaluation, the iPad was the best available commercial off-the-shelf product for our needs. We are, however, platform agnostic and fully expect improvements across the commercial market to develop in a variety of areas that will increase our capabilities." The electronic flight bags will be used in a manner similar to those carried by commercial airline pilots, since the command has concerns about the security of data. That means that the devices would carry digital navigation charts and flight information publications that are publicly available. As usual, what is good enough for the commercial market -- in this case the thousands of airline pilots flying for United/Continental, Alaska, American, and other airlines who are using iPads in the cockpit -- apparently isn't good enough for the military. Anybody up for an overly expensive Android-powered toilet seat?
iPad gets approval from FAA to replace paper flight charts and maps
The Federal Aviation Administration is moving with the times, it would seem, as it has just granted the first approval for the use of iPads instead of paper charts for informing airline pilots while on duty. There are already a number of EFB (electronic flight bag) devices in use, however the iPad is by far the cheapest and most portable one that's been validated yet. Executive Jet Management, a charter flight operator, went through three months of testing with the iPad, wherein it was used by 55 pilots on 250 flights, in order to obtain its FAA license to rely exclusively on the Apple tablet for its in-flight mapping data. Other airlines will have to go through the same process in order to dump their big stacks of paper charts for a slinky slate, but the important thing is that the precedent has been set. As to redundancies in case of failure or a software crash, the likeliest scenario is that pilots will carry a spare iPad with them, though there wasn't even a single (software) crash during the trial period -- which also included rapid decompression and electronic interference testing. So there you have it, the iPad's found itself a grown-up job just in time to retire from its throne as consumer sales leader. [Thanks, Andrew]
iPad receives FAA certification as an electronic flight bag
Jeppesen, the company that produces most of the paper and electronic "Jepp charts" used by pilots for preflight planning and inflight navigation, announced late last week that jet charter operator Executive Jet Management has received authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration to use the Jeppesen Mobile TC App for iPad as an alternative to paper charts. According to online aviation website AvStop, this authorization allows Executive Jet Management to use the app and iPad as the sole reference for electronic charts at all times during a flight. Jeppesen, Executive Jet Management and local and national Electronic Flight Bag authorization authorities recently completed a three-month in-flight evaluation of the iPad-based solution. During the evaluation, pilots for the charter operator logged more than 250 flight segments using the app. The configuration that was authorized by the FAA is a Class 1 portable kneeboard electronic flight bag solution, meaning that the iPad needs to be secured and viewable during critical flight phases. The iPad tests even included a rapid decompression test to 51,000 feet in altitude and successful non-interference testing on the evaluation aircraft. While the authorization is only for one jet charter operator, this could signal a move for rapid acceptance of the iPad in the cockpit by airlines.
