Operational flight plan : only paper format?

[C.M]

I have the following question
Can a flight depart with the pilots having received a flight plan on i.e an IPAD ? And I am not talking about a flight plan which is part of an EFB package . I am talking about a scenario in which something happens and you need an updated operational flight plan , you are in hurry ( slot time ) and the dispatcher needs time to go to the office and pick what ever print out came .
Can the company send the PDF file over the pilots IPads and the captain can insert an electronic signature with a pdf annotation program ? (I.e GoodReader) that will also be used for filling the rest of the data during flight ?

[Denti]

Interesting question. And i guess it comes down to your OMA and AOC rules (or OPS SPEC). We used digital OFPs on an iPad, before that paper printed ones and until the digital ones were approved by the authority a .pdf would not have been legal. But that might differ with authority.

[flyboyike]

At our company it's permissible for dispatch to push the OFP directly to our ACARS printer. We can then sign the resulting printout. Not particularly pretty, but legal.

[172_driver]

We often receive a last minute OFP, e.g. a re-routing to avoid a long slot delay (annoying when you’ve got old route in the FMC :O). We download them, check the fuel and off we go. Very easy and flexible system. No signature required. We use the ACARS loadsheet accept prompt as the “master acceptance button” that the aircraft is in order and flight plan is legal.