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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.
Gadling goes hands-on with the iPad flight bag
Flight bags are going digital, and American Airlines is on the forefront of this move away from a paper-laden cockpit. American has approval to use the iPad in its 777, 737 and MD-80 airplanes and is starting to install the iPads in the cockpits of its MD-80 fleet. A recent segment in Gadling's Cockpit Chronicles series by Kent Wien takes a closer look at this iOS-driven setup. Working with pilot manual company Jeppesen, American Airlines is loading up the devices with company manuals, Jeppesen flight manuals, Jeppesen approach plates and more. It is also equipping the iPads with Hypermac backup batteries for long flights and a RAM mount to secure the device in the cockpit. You can check out the cockpit setup in the video below and then hop over to the Cockpit Chronicles article for additional details on the system and its long approval process, which includes, among other things, hypobaric chamber testing. [Gadling is a sibling site of TUAW, as we are both part of AOL's network. –Ed.]
AA gives OK to place iPads in airplane cockpits
Soon, pilots from American Airlines will be able leave their oversized flight manual behind and grab their iPad when they hop into the pilot's seat. According to a report by The Next Web, the FCC gave the airlines the necessary approval to use the iPad as part of an electronic flight bag. In a first for the travel industry, the Apple tablet will be available for pilots to use during all phases of flight. Besides pilots, American Airlines also wants to equip their flight attendants with tablets so they can better manage travelers and meet their needs. The iPads will be available to pilots of the company's Boeing 777 planes in the coming weeks. After the company secures approval, it will then roll out the iPad to other fleet planes by the end of 2012. The airline hopes to stop issuing paper revisions of its manuals and navigation charts by January 2013.
iPads on the flight decks of Alaska Airlines aircraft
I've talked about iPads for pilots a few times here on TUAW, particularly when discussing kneeboards for the device, but our sister site Engadget just pointed me to a press release from Alaska Airlines that caught my attention. The airline with the smiling Inuit on the tail has started a pair of initiatives called "Bye, Bye Flight Bag" that replace paper manuals (and eventually paper aeronautical charts) with iPads. The first part of the plan is underway, and the iPads are loaded with the GoodReader app and PDF versions of various flight, systems, and performance manuals as well as other materials. The manuals have been enhanced with hyperlinks so pilots can find information faster, and updates are done with a single tap on the screen instead of replacing individual pages in the manuals with new ones. Like the iPad you may be carrying back in your comfy seat in the main cabin, the flight deck iPads are considered Class 1 electronic devices and the pilots have to stow 'em during takeoff and landing. Alaska Airlines expects to fully pay back the cost of the initiatives in terms of reduced fuel costs from not having to carry fully-loaded flight bags, which can weigh up to 50 pounds in some cases. The airline also expects savings from fewer employee injuries since the pilots won't be lugging those hefty flight bags around. Show full PR text Alaska Airlines Pilots Go Lean And Green With iPads First major domestic airline to use iPads to replace flight manuals 5/27/2011 9:12 a.m. SEATTLE - As part of an ongoing effort to use technology to enhance flight safety, improve efficiency and protect the environment, Alaska Airlines is issuing iPad tablet computers to its pilots. The 1½-pound iPads replace up to 25 pounds of paper flight manuals that pilots are required to carry when they fly. The iPads are being distributed to all Alaska Airlines pilots, a process that will be complete by mid-June. This follows a successful trial by 100 line and instructor pilots and Air Line Pilots Association representatives, who evaluated the feasibility of using iPads as electronic flight bags this past winter and spring. Alaska Airlines is the first major domestic airline to use the iPad to replace paper manuals. "We've been exploring the idea of an electronic flight bag for several years, but never found a device we really liked," said Gary Beck, Alaska Airlines' vice president of flight operations. "When the iPad hit the market, we took one look at it and said this is the perfect fit." The iPads contain an app called GoodReader that is loaded with PDF versions of 41 flight, systems and performance manuals, reference cards, and other materials. The electronic manuals include hyperlinks and color graphics, enabling pilots to find information faster and easier. Updating these reference materials can now be accomplished with one tap on the iPad screen instead of the former, labor-intensive process of replacing individual pages with new ones. The iPad is considered a Class 1 electronic device, meaning it is stowed during takeoff and landing under Federal Aviation Administration regulations. In conjunction with replacing paper manuals, Alaska Airlines is exploring the replacement of paper aeronautical navigation charts with electronic versions on the iPad, eliminating the need for every pilot to carry their own copy. The two initiatives, dubbed "Bye, Bye, Flight Bag," will save about 2.4 million pieces of paper. The cost of the project is expected to be offset by lower paper, printing and distribution expenses and reduced fuel consumption as some weight is removed from the aircraft. Further savings are expected from fewer back and muscle injuries caused by pilots carrying flight bags that can tip the scales at 50 pounds or more fully loaded. Note to news media: A high-resolution photograph of an Alaska pilot with the iPad on the flight deck of a Boeing 737 is available in the airline's online newsroom image gallery at www.alaskaair.com/newsroom. Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK), together serve 90 cities throughout Alaska, the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico. For reservations, visit www.alaskaair.com. For more news and information, visit the Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Newsroom at www.alaskaair.com/newsroom.
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]
