Ohhh cmon. Dont tell me that this is some significant thing. Do the feds really need to give 121 carriers all this grief with approval? The iPad has been tested a thousand times for rapid decompression. It passes with flying colors. 18 months is insane! We told the feds we wanted approval. We used the iPads for 6 months and noted very few problems we had. We got our Op Spec shortly after and dumped all of our paper books. The rest of you dont really know what that is, but the feds finally getting around to approving iPads for airlines boggles my mind. They should be in every cockpit.
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A Look at American Airlines' iPad Electronic Flight Bag
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Ohhh cmon. Dont tell me that this is some significant thing. Do the feds really need to give 121 carriers all this grief with approval? The iPad has been tested a thousand times for rapid decompression. It passes with flying colors. 18 months is insane! We told the feds we wanted approval. We used the iPads for 6 months and noted very few problems we had. We got our Op Spec shortly after and dumped all of our paper books. The rest of you dont really know what that is, but the feds finally getting around to approving iPads for airlines boggles my mind. They should be in every cockpit.
Yes, you are wrong. Approach plates are vital when preparing to land, and are constantly referenced, usually by the Pilot Not Flying. Nothing is done off the top of ones head.
I bought an iPad and a chart subscription a few years ago for private flying, around the time that AA and others started considering it for their cockpits. Up until that time, I thought I'd never have a use for an iPad. Once I got it, I couldn't believe how much easier it made my life in the cockpit. I wish my company had made the switch before I stopped flying professionally.
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I'm glad that life is easier in the 91F and 135 worlds.
I believe Apple still only certifies the iPad to 10,000 feet of pressure altitude, so this could be a part of the reason why it took so long. It might not have been about explosive decompression so much as just plain old decompression. As far as I can tell, American and Alaska are the only large Part 121 operators who have even tried to get the iPad approved for all phases of flight.
At a quick glance, the logo looks like a pair of 3D glasses
Horrible logo. It looks like wind coming from the left is blowing the curl over, the opposite direction to what it should be.
As I said, it is significant for the major air carriers. In the "big-scheme" of things, I don't find the delay that big of a deal. I prefer that the FAA and US Carriers are very cautious in their implementation of new technologies. If some kind of mishap occurred due to poor chart implementation or inaccuracies in the updating process with electronic "flight-kits", everyone would be questioning why the FAA rushed.
i was once lucky enough to fly from europe to new york in the cockpit on a cargo plane and during the flight the pilots were updating their huge binders during the flight.
so if a pilot carries around 30-40 pounds how much regeneration/updating in pounds does it go through in a year?
The problem really isn't the wasted paper and the weight, it's the overhead of managing the paper and the risk of human mistakes being made during by-hand updating. Some companies make their pilots update their binders, some companies hire outside firms to do the work for them. Neither is that great of a solution, whereas the iPad (or any EFB) is a great step in the right direction of centralizing the task and significantly reducing the risks.
thats good to know. although im firmly against wasting paper and really anything else my question had nothing to do with that point of view. its just curiosity since when you see articles about this subject then the weight is always mentioned so having witnessed pilots going through their binders i know they update it just not how much and how regularly.
Yeah, the weight is a common talking point since it's so easy to convey and understand. But even then, it's sometimes a little more complicated. Maybe it means that the airplane is 80lbs lighter leaving the date, but maybe it means that the company can load 80lbs more cargo and baggage into the hold without going over the max weight specification. Either way, it's a win. However, the real purpose is to increase safety and reduce the risk of mistakes in the cockpit, and that's where the iPads/EFB's are such an important step.
As for the frequency of updates for charts, they're usually sent out on 28 and/or 56 day cycles. A typical update might only be a couple dozen pages on very thin/light paper and thus only weigh a few ounces, or it might be a hundred or more pages. Company binders get updated at irregular intervals and again range from a few pages to whole sections. If I had to estimate how much waste I generated in a year of updating charts and company binders, it would probably be somewhere in the range of 10lbs.
Isn't it dangerous if you only rely on an iPad? What if it froze all of a sudden in a vital procedure?
Isn't it dangerous if you only rely on an iPad? What if it froze all of a sudden in a vital procedure?
Then they'd still have the second iPad that's in the cockpit.
And for the very vital procedures, they still have the paper manual.
Isn't it dangerous if you only rely on an iPad? What if it froze all of a sudden in a vital procedure?
Our approach procedures are in a Nav database that is displayed on horizontal situation displays (planform moving maps) as part of the flight instruments and tracked by the aircraft autopilot or manually by the pilot. So we typically could land at any suitable airport without reference to the paper or iPads. However, we do reference the approach plates (maps) and navigational charts to backup and confirm the accuracy of the on-board database. So either one is really a backup to the other. Even if both iPads failed, it would not actually prevent us from safely landing. But day-to-day operations are all about backups and redundancy.
I'd sure hope so. But then again, I wouldn't want a pilot to navigate me if he needs to reference from a book.
Weight savings
Millions are saved in fuel costs by this change.
How much would be saved if the airlines allowed passengers removed in flight entertainment and those horrible airline magazines?
Most passengers would prefer to use their tablets during all phases of flights instead of the sub-par airline options. Fix this and you fix a lot more than the flight bags.
Airline magazines also contribute to disease transmission. Sick passengers sneeze in their hands while reading the magazines, put them back in the seat pocket, and the next passenger gets exposed.
Millions are saved in fuel costs by this change.
How much would be saved if the airlines allowed passengers removed in flight entertainment and those horrible airline magazines?
Most passengers would prefer to use their tablets during all phases of flights instead of the sub-par airline options. Fix this and you fix a lot more than the flight bags.
Airline magazines also contribute to disease transmission. Sick passengers sneeze in their hands while reading the magazines, put them back in the seat pocket, and the next passenger gets exposed.
Isn't it dangerous if you only rely on an iPad? What if it froze all of a sudden in a vital procedure?
When the FAA approved the use of iPads in the cockpit, the topic of the iPad freezing or a navigational app (like Jeppessen or ForeFlight) crashing did come up. There were some things talked about like if the app crashed, it needed to be able to reopen in like 5 seconds or something. And if the iPad itself froze and you needed to do a soft reboot, it needed to come back online online within 5 minutes. Don't quote me on those times or the exact recommendation, but thats what I gathered from talking to our specific FAA guy when we were getting approved. Its really been a non-issue. You have two iPads in the cockpit. They are very reliable. The chances of having both crash at the exact same time are extremely slim. The only real issue we had was on hot days during the summer and leaving your iPad near the window with the sun beating on it. It will shut off for getting too hot.
That's right. I don't want to fly with a pilot who follows checklists too. They make me scared.
I only like pilots who memorize those hundreds of procedures of an airliner.
There is a short amount of time for bacteria's/viruses to survive after they have left the human body.
Pre-flight is fine, but if the plane is going down, they better know wtf they are doing.
Yes, having immediate response items memorized for emergency situations is standard procedure for pilot training, and is something that's retested on a periodic basis. What's also standard procedure is to have a written checklist that can be run after the initial response. This checklist will ensure that the PF and the PNF didn't forget anything due to distractions, and will expand upon the procedure to cover lower priority action items and procedures that should be performed once the immediate danger is under control. Checklists aren't a crutch for pilots with poor memories, they're a tool that help prevent mistakes and enhance the knowledge and training that pilots retain.
Here's an example: When Sullenberger and Skiles successfully ditched their USAir A320 into the Hudson, they (specifically Skiles) were running checklists the whole way down. They made an outstanding demonstration of how emergencies should be handled, and I'd be honored and privileged if I ever had the change to fly with them, either as a passenger or a pilot.
It might be old news for private jets but for commercial airlines it is not old at all. Especially having approval to put all the manuals on an iPad.
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iPads can be updated to new code for a year or two. And then replaced by iPads that will go another year or two. All the while the code for the app(s) will be constantly tweaked as needed.
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I thought you didn't get reception that high?
Unless the plane has WiFi...
They don't need reception, its all locally stored
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And after that I would hope the pilots have the skill to handle things. After all in a real emergency it's unlikely they could look anything up book or otherwise.
In the USA maybe.
Qantas (Australia) has approval and now use iPads on most of their airliners (all phases of flight). Jepessen App for charts, and an in-house app for manuals, flight plans, weather, notams, forms etc. It is an amazing change for the better.
The iPads have been EMI tested and are approved for use during takeoff and landing (by pilots only) in non-transmitting mode.