ross_M
27th Jun 2013, 06:12
In the Cockpit, Navigation Charts Go Digital; American Sees $1.2 Million in Fuel Savings (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323998604578567720762762606.html)
Do people foresee any new interesting failure modes? Coffee spills? Virus that modifies approach charts? Both ipads dead and nonchargeable? Turbulence smashed my ipad?
In an environment where everything from pilot-seats to microwave ovens is custom designed it was interesting to see that a commodity piece of hardware could qualify. Are these ipads specially modded in any way to aviation harden them?
Also, if electronic charts are the way forward, is there any push by the aircraft manufacturers to integrate this function into their avionics? Or does an independent device boost reliability.
Is there a reason why they have ipad-ized Jeppsons but not the QRH? Or just a project in progress?
"Airline pilots, who fly some of the world's most technologically advanced machines, have long relied on paper navigation charts and manuals, which clutter the cockpit and have to be lugged around in cases that can weigh as much as a small child.
Now, however, airlines are catching up with the tablet era.
JetBlue Airways Corp. said Wednesday that it has received regulatory clearance to provide its 2,500 pilots with Apple Inc. iPads that will store digital copies of the heavy paper manuals they refer to during flights.
Earlier this week, AMR Corp.'s American Airlines said its 8,000 pilots had largely gone paperless now that the carrier has completed the rollout of its own iPad program.
By storing manuals and navigation charts on iPads, American figures it has eliminated 3,000 pages of paper per pilot.
The volume of paper traditionally required by cockpit crews is almost overwhelming in the confines of a cockpit.
Before the start of a flight, pilots typically remove the necessary papers from their bags and affix them to clipboards, a process they call "building the nest."
When plans changed, the pilots had to root around for the necessary charts in leather flight bags so heavy—often more than 35 pounds—that toting them around was one of American's biggest sources of pilot injuries, said Capt. Jim Kaiser, the carrier's managing director of flight operations.
American estimates that removing the bags from all its planes saves about 400,000 gallons of fuel annually, worth $1.2 million at current prices.
Capt. Jim Freeman, a senior Alaska Airlines pilot who has led his airline's iPad project, said having the approach plates, arrival charts and runway diagrams available at the touch of a tablet is a lot quicker and more user-friendly.
"It's about information management, the human factors of managing charts," he said. The change helps pilots be "safe and compliant" and helps the airline run a "better business."............."
Do people foresee any new interesting failure modes? Coffee spills? Virus that modifies approach charts? Both ipads dead and nonchargeable? Turbulence smashed my ipad?
In an environment where everything from pilot-seats to microwave ovens is custom designed it was interesting to see that a commodity piece of hardware could qualify. Are these ipads specially modded in any way to aviation harden them?
Also, if electronic charts are the way forward, is there any push by the aircraft manufacturers to integrate this function into their avionics? Or does an independent device boost reliability.
Is there a reason why they have ipad-ized Jeppsons but not the QRH? Or just a project in progress?
"Airline pilots, who fly some of the world's most technologically advanced machines, have long relied on paper navigation charts and manuals, which clutter the cockpit and have to be lugged around in cases that can weigh as much as a small child.
Now, however, airlines are catching up with the tablet era.
JetBlue Airways Corp. said Wednesday that it has received regulatory clearance to provide its 2,500 pilots with Apple Inc. iPads that will store digital copies of the heavy paper manuals they refer to during flights.
Earlier this week, AMR Corp.'s American Airlines said its 8,000 pilots had largely gone paperless now that the carrier has completed the rollout of its own iPad program.
By storing manuals and navigation charts on iPads, American figures it has eliminated 3,000 pages of paper per pilot.
The volume of paper traditionally required by cockpit crews is almost overwhelming in the confines of a cockpit.
Before the start of a flight, pilots typically remove the necessary papers from their bags and affix them to clipboards, a process they call "building the nest."
When plans changed, the pilots had to root around for the necessary charts in leather flight bags so heavy—often more than 35 pounds—that toting them around was one of American's biggest sources of pilot injuries, said Capt. Jim Kaiser, the carrier's managing director of flight operations.
American estimates that removing the bags from all its planes saves about 400,000 gallons of fuel annually, worth $1.2 million at current prices.
Capt. Jim Freeman, a senior Alaska Airlines pilot who has led his airline's iPad project, said having the approach plates, arrival charts and runway diagrams available at the touch of a tablet is a lot quicker and more user-friendly.
"It's about information management, the human factors of managing charts," he said. The change helps pilots be "safe and compliant" and helps the airline run a "better business."............."