Lost? Trouble with one of the plane's two engines? Bored? Pilots can now make use of Apple's iPad on the cockpit. By the end of the year all 8,000 American Airlines pilots will be carrying iPads on flights. The airline claims to be the first commercial carrier to have obtained FAA clearance to let pilots use Apple's iPad instead of cumbersome paper flight manuals and charts during all phases of flight. Providing each pilot an iPad instead of a huge 35 to 50-pound kitbag -- containing the operating manual, safety checklists, logbooks, navigation charts, weather information, and airport diagrams -- would save the airline $1.2 million in fuel costs every year.
What Else You Need To Know
- Each iPad would be pre-installed with the FAA-approved app from Boeing Flight Services unit Jeppese, which will provide the pilots with up-to-date electronic information.
- American Airlines began testing iPads in the cockpit last year, deploying the tablets on its B–777 aircraft.
- AA is also equipping flight attendants with iPads to provide them better information about customers and help them meet their needs.
Other sources
American is confident enough in the tablet switchover that it plans to stop handing out any paper updates to its charts and manuals as of January, just days after its entire fleet gets the regulatory nod for iPads at the end of this year.- Jon Fingas, engadget
- Other
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American Airlines About to Jump on the ‘iPad in the Cockpit’ Bandwagon
Pilots who fly Boeing 777 wide body aircraft will be the first to get the new iPads this month, while rollout to all American Airlines pilots is expected to be completed by January 2013.
- Other
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AA gives OK to place iPads in airplane cockpits
In a first for the travel industry, the Apple tablet will be available for pilots to use during all phases of flight.
- Engadget
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American Airlines becomes first FAA-friendly carrier to use iPads through whole flights
American is confident enough in the tablet switchover that it plans to stop handing out any paper updates to its charts and manuals as of January, just days after its entire fleet gets the regulatory nod for iPads at the end of this year.
- American Airlines cleared to replace heavy flight manuals with iPads