United swaps flight manuals/charts for iPads

[Jammrock]

Sounds like an Apple sales rep is going to get a huge bonus this year. I can sea a tablet or eReader in addition to a paper manual, but all digital is not a good, fool proof solution.

[Umfriend]

But will they work when a terrorist causes an EMP?

[Dr Mordrid]

Of course they won't.....I assume they have only one copy per plane.

They'll likely have more than one iPad.

[Umfriend]

Of course they won't, that would defeat the savings as the one copy would need to be updated as well. I assume they have only one copy per plane.

[Evildead666]

Super, no batteries, no charts etc...

Paper is a very 'safe' way to store data. Hope they keep at least one copy per plane as a backup.

[Dr Mordrid]

Link....

United Airlines said Tuesday it was replacing the hefty flight manuals and chart books its pilots have long used with 11,000 iPads carrying the same data.

The 1.5 pound (0.7 kilogram) iPad will take the place of about 38 pounds (17 kilograms) of paper instructions, data and charts pilots have long used to help guide them, parent company United Continental Holdings said.

The popular tablet computer will carry the Mobile FliteDeck software app from Jeppesen, a Boeing subsidiary which provides navigation tools for air, sea and land.

"The paperless flight deck represents the next generation of flying," said Captain Fred Abbott, United's senior vice president of flight operations.

"The introduction of iPads ensures our pilots have essential and real-time information at their fingertips at all times throughout the flight."

It will be supplied to all pilots on United and Continental flights; the two carriers merged in 2010.

United is the second major US carrier to adopt the iPad as a key pilot flight aid.

In May Alaska Airlines also adopted it, after the Federal Aviation Administration okayed the iPad for cockpit use.

United estimates that using the iPad will save 16 million sheets of paper a year, and that the lighter load it represents will save 326,000 gallons (1.2 million liters) in fuel.
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