iPad App Issue Delays 'a Few Dozen' American Airlines Flights

[tentales]

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Issues with an app on iPads provided to pilots on American Airline flights have delayed "a few dozen" flights, making it difficult for planes to take off and causing them to return to the gates to fix the issue, according to The Verge.

ImageAn American Airlines pilot's iPad​

Passenger Bill Jacaruso was traveling to Austin from Dallas / Fort Worth when his flight was delayed. He told The Verge that the pilot got on the intercom and told the passengers that his co-pilot's iPad had went blank. About 25 minutes later he got on the intercom again, noting that his iPad had also went blank. At the time, the pilot said that all 737 airplanes were affected, but 45 minutes later he said the issue was affecting "random" American Airline planes. Another passenger told The Verge that "two systems" had failed and needed to be rebooted.

American Airlines received FAA approval for iPad use by pilots in the cockpit back in 2011. In 2013, the airline company began giving its pilots Electronic Flight Bags (EFB) containing the iPads, the first major commercial carrier to do so. The EFB's goal is to use the iPad to replace the 40 pounds of manuals and maps that pilots usually carry. The iPads also come with a long-life battery that keeps the iPad powered for 24 hours.

Article Link: iPad App Issue Delays 'a Few Dozen' American Airlines Flights

Hmm, one of 2 things happened. Both iPads were low on battery power or the App was recently auto updated to iOS 8.1 and those 1st gen iPads only run iOS 5.1.x

So they save 40lbs weight in manuals, but waste fuel taxiing back to the gate. Backup anyone ?

 

[Iconoclysm]

Wait, what?! That's a three hour drive. Factoring in arriving and exiting an airport, waiting at the gate to board, and the flight itself, there's no time saved. Maybe even time lost.

Maybe that was a stop along the way from somewhere else

 

[blackcrayon]

So what happens when they lose the ability to use their iPads in the air?

What happens when the 20 year old controls in the old plane stop responding? The iPad is probably not even close to the most vital piece of the "system" that could go wrong.

 

[gnasher729]

Two things: A) Isn't there a backup system available in case of problem like this? B) Consumer electronics as a mission critical aviation data source sounds like a very bad idea. Design a iPad like aviation equipment which is meant to run 24/7 with extremely high software and hardware robustness and you can rely on it. Sure, it will probably cost $10K per unit but you get what you pay for.

Since nobody here has the slightest idea what exactly went wrong, anything said here will be pure speculation. All that has been reported has been hearsay. (Hearsay = "A passenger said that the pilot said...")

I got one of those "Don't criticize the verbiage!" e-mails on one where the meaning of the sentence went totally left field from the intended meaning. ("censor" being used instead of "sensor").

Not everyone here has English as their first language. And if English isn't your first language, then trying to read a post using the word "censor" instead of "sensor" is a real bad problem. Making the connection between the two words ("censor" doesn't make sense, he probably meant "sensor") is much much harder when English isn't your first language.

 

[Mike MA]

Well, this is actually not really an iPad problem, right?

 

[Digital Skunk]

How hard would it be to update the iPad models, and carry backups of the iPads. If they need two, they should have 5 on board.

There's no reason to just have a primary with something like flying.

 

[gnasher729]

Yeah, long distance air and water transport are two applications where it's FOOLISH not to have paper charts. People always want to test fate until they get a painful and usually dramatic reality check. Are we really very smart to be relying so heavily on smart devices?

They have been saving millions buy not transporting 40 pound of paper on every flight, and by not having to maintain 40 pound of paper with the latest versions. So now there was a flight delayed (the "few dozen" seem to be pure speculation). The cost of that is nothing compared to the savings.

 

[uid15]

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Issues with an app on iPads provided to pilots on American Airline flights have delayed "a few dozen" flights, making it difficult for planes to take off and causing them to return to the gates to fix the issue, according to The Verge.

ImageAn American Airlines pilot's iPad​

Passenger Bill Jacaruso was traveling to Austin from Dallas / Fort Worth when his flight was delayed. He told The Verge that the pilot got on the intercom and told the passengers that his co-pilot's iPad had went blank. About 25 minutes later he got on the intercom again, noting that his iPad had also went blank. At the time, the pilot said that all 737 airplanes were affected, but 45 minutes later he said the issue was affecting "random" American Airline planes. Another passenger told The Verge that "two systems" had failed and needed to be rebooted.

American Airlines received FAA approval for iPad use by pilots in the cockpit back in 2011. In 2013, the airline company began giving its pilots Electronic Flight Bags (EFB) containing the iPads, the first major commercial carrier to do so. The EFB's goal is to use the iPad to replace the 40 pounds of manuals and maps that pilots usually carry. The iPads also come with a long-life battery that keeps the iPad powered for 24 hours.

Article Link: iPad App Issue Delays 'a Few Dozen' American Airlines Flights

"had went blank"?

Who's writing this stuff? Your grammar is horrendous.

 

[Steve121178]

What did they do before iPad's? That had to be the backup solution, right? RIGHT?

 

[uid15]

Should have bought an iPad air because you know know plane and air I'll let myself out now...

On a more serious note, is this just a precaution thing or do they actually need the iPad to take off?

The iPad doesn't need to take off, the plane does. However, it did take off, as the pilot flung it across the cabin.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Sounds like poorly written software. The fact that it's running on an iPad is largely irrelevant.

Not only that but being a "private" app, AA is solely responsible for its implementation. Apple had no contact with the app. Poor link bait headline from the Verge. Even their quote from the AA spokesperson alludes to the issue being AA's fault entirely, but it would see Verge reporters didn't feel it necessary to corner them for a more precise technical reason. But the Verge isn't a tech blog so why bother with such unnecessary details.

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What did they do before iPad's? That had to be the backup solution, right? RIGHT?

They use to have large flight manuals. The iPads were brought in to save on weight and the flight manuals were discontinued. So, no, no backup.

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So they save 40lbs weight in manuals, but waste fuel taxiing back to the gate. Backup anyone ?

A few dozen trips back to the gate didn't waste as much fuel as every plane since the intro of iPad that didn't have to return to the gate saved. So very much still, net gain.

A backup would be the flight manuals which would negate the need for the iPad. This issue would seem to be server related, not iPad related though. I'm sure the iPads are tested like all other equipment before takeoff. But the servers can work one minute and not the next.

 

[samcraig]

We finally have our GateGate!

 

[Gasu E.]

Should have bought an iPad air because you know know plane and air I'll let myself out now...

There are time when completely moronic jokes are appropriate.

This was, in fact, one of those times.

 

[paross]

They had to go back to access WiFi to fix the issue.

When asked why, the pilots responded, "Have you seen how expensive and unreliable in flight WiFi is?"

 

[Gasu E.]

One of my best friends lives in Tampa and flies to nearly every city with an airport in Florida and back home daily, even cities as near as Fort Myers where I live, only a two hour drive. You can work waiting in the airport which you can't if you are driving and they have the super fast lane for security. One advantage is he gets the frequent flier miles hence the free first class tickets for him and his husband's vacations to Australia, Germany, etc. over the past few years.

(Cost of driving) + (value of FF miles) << (Cost of airplane ticket)

 

[DevNull0]

Are you kidding, who's to say the problem is not IOS related or a combination of the application and IOS. All the Microsoft haters are so quick to bash Windows when a Windows based app crashes. So the fact that it is running on an iPad (e.g., IOS) may certainly be relevant.

Come on now, you know Apple is perfect and can never make a mistake. And if it looks like they screwed up, it's automatically someone else's fault because Apple is perfect. Your lack of faith in the one true Apple is disconcerting, and upsetting to my sense of inner peace.

/sarcasm

 

[RickInHouston]

A few dozen can be a very big number.

 

[k1121j]

All of it. Anytime anything goes wrong, if an Apple product is involved, the entire situation is Apple's fault. Refusal to blame Apple for any and all direct and indirect consequences means you are a robotic fanboy that can't accept reality.

Life is much easier when you don't have to think critically!

umm so if its the software that someone else made it makes it apples fault is that the same to say if windows gets a virus is the laptop manufactures fault what a false sense of logic you have my friend lets wait to see what the actual problem was I'm willing to bet its the mapping software not hardware...

 

[Thunderhawks]

Imagine the sheer bravery of Orville and Wilbur daring to fly without waiting for the iPad to be invented.

120 feet for 12 seconds.

About the time it takes for an iPad to start up.

 

[roadbloc]

Pathetic. I wonder how they managed before iPads.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

<deleted> after being pointed out my sarcasm meter was off when I responded to the poster.

 

[batchtaster]

A few dozen can be a very big number.

http://www.natca.org :

"On any given day, more than 87,000 flights are in the skies in the United States. Only one-third are commercial carriers, like American, United or Southwest. On an average day, air traffic controllers handle 28,537 commercial flights (major and regional airlines), 27,178 general aviation flights (private planes), 24,548 air taxi flights (planes for hire), 5,260 military flights and 2,148 air cargo flights (Federal Express, UPS, etc.). At any given moment, roughly 5,000 planes are in the skies above the United States. In one year, controllers handle an average of 64 million takeoffs and landings."

29,000 commercial flights each day, and "a few dozen" were delayed due to bugs in AA's app and/or infrastructure. Let's be generous and say a good 100 (8 dozens). That's 100/29000 = 0.00344. In percentage terms, it's 0.344%. I wonder how many were delayed due to weather or other circumstances.

http://www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/usmap.jsp
http://www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/flyfaaindex.jsp?ARPT=DCA&p=0

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) Real-time Status
General Departure Delays: Due to VOL:Multi-taxi, traffic is experiencing Gate Hold and Taxi delays between 16 minutes and 30 minutes in length and increasing.

But the instant an iPad is involved, suddenly it's frontpage news, and Apple is to blame. Apple must also be responsible for you not getting any "likes" on Tinder, since they're intimately involved in how you use your iPad, in the same way they're intimately involved in how AA uses theirs.

Gotta get those clicks...

 

[MaxinMusicCity]

There is nothing wrong with your iPad. We will control the horizontal, we will control the vertical, we are in total control for the next 30 minutes...

You are now entering....THE OUTER LIMITS

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Imagine the sheer bravery of Orville and Wilbur daring to fly without waiting for the iPad to be invented.

Pretty sure they didn't have to be concerned about jet traffic in the area when they took flight.

 

[gluckett]

They had to go back to access WiFi to fix the issue.

When asked why, the pilots responded, "Have you seen how expensive and unreliable in flight WiFi is?"

I'm glad I wasn't the only one wondering why they had to return to the gate to access WiFi since most flights have it onboard.