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Daily Update for August 23, 2011
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top stories of the day in three to five minutes, which is perfect for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
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.
