Use of laptops instead of manuals by pilots

[M.Mouse]

I gather from another website that UK airline Brittania are to issue all their pilots with IBM laptops to replace aircraft manuals and charts.

Anybody have an update on the progress of the project so far?

[604guy]

Hmmm, call me old fashioned but I have had plenty of failures with laptops just in the past 5-6 years. My jepps and a/c paper manuals though just always seem to work when needed. Not that I am against new toys but......

[18greens]

Don't they affect the navigation systems on the aeroplane. Do they have to switch them off for takeoff and landing?

[Localiser Green]

Looks like MYT already do this:

http://www.planepictures.net/netshow.cgi?44880

[RadarContact]

Quite a few airlines already do this.

Yes, they have to be switched off for TO and LDG.
No, they don't interfere (as far as I know).
Yes, they are quite reliable (don't know how they do it, though. Quite a few people would pay major money to find out, I guess)

Been using mine for 2 years now, without problems.

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

Are any other airlines planning to do this?

Thanks
BAe 146-100

[604guy]

Read an article in a Transport Canada Safety Letter about 5 years ago to do with laptops. It talked about an incident with an Air Canada aircraft on the Atlantic. The crew noticed that one of the compass systems suddenly had gone off 10 or so degrees. Captain asked a member of the cabin crew to take a walk about and see if anyone was using something electronic. A pax was using a laptop. Crew asked that he turn it off and on a couple of times. Each time it was turned on that compass system went off 10 degrees. Since that article I haven't read much more about it.

[Pilot Pete]

Britannia's have been tested and authorised for use in flight by the CAA and I believe one of the reasons for picking the model they did was because of the case which emits very little interference.

PP

[M.Mouse]

Do you still use paper approach plates or are they on the laptop too?

[Pilot Pete]

Still using paper Jepps, you couldn't really use a lap top for approach plates, not on a Boeing without a table anyway!;) The laptops are good, with wireless connections in the crew rooms and wired LAN as backup and dialup for use over the net.

I would guess that the manufacturers would eventually put some sort of display where the plate holders by the side windows are, or centrally to call up approach/ departure plates from an onboard database.

PP

[Spitoon]

This is an interesting thread. In the UK at ATC units we are specifically prohibited from using anything other than printed copies of reference docs unless the CAA approves otherwise. In my experience, those computer based systems that I've seen have not been particularly reliable and fail to deliver the goods at just the wrong time. And despite the fact that they should be easier to keep up to date, this, again, is often a weakness. So I guess I'm a bit hesitant about laptops on aircraft for this purpose.

Which docs are available on the laptops? If they're not critical to the flight, why carry them at all? If they are critical, a laptop seems to be a bit of a dodgy way of carrying them.

In the longer term, even if the laptop is not used for approach plates and the like today, no doubt as time goes by and greater experience is gained, someone will do it one day. I'd be interested to know whether that would be equally welcomed on the flight deck.

[Bally Heck]

The machine is a modified IBM thinkpad. not sure what is modified, but it apparently makes the machine considerably more expensive than off the shelf machines. I suspect that part of the mod is to disable the wireless connection unless a "USB dongle" (kept in the crewroom) is fitted to inhibit computer radio transmission in flight.

The system is windows professional 2000 which is a pretty unimpressive operating system, but then as a Mac user I would say that wouldn't I?

All manuals and notices are on it, but not Jepps. The machine automatically updates by wireless link when in the crewroom, so we can all dump the large pile of ammendments collecting over the last few years in our IN trays.

Also, take off performance is computerised which will apparently give us improved payloads due to more accurate calculations and improved climb calculations.

The machines are certified for use in flight. Presumably with the approval of the CAA.

Both pilots must carry their machines and we each have a spare battery, so there is pretty bulletproof redundancy.

It is supplied in a nice leather and Kevlar case so it may come in useful defending ourselves from RPGs and rifle bullets.

My only gripes (apart from a naff operating system) is that paper manuals are easier to read, and there is no patience game on the Britannia partition.

All in all, and once the bugs have been ironed out, I think it is probably the way of the future.