iPad in the cockpit at AA
 

If you fly as an American Airlines premium passenger, you'll get to play with a Galaxy Tab. If you actually fly the plane, though, you'll have to make do with an iPad. According to ZDNet, the carrier has already won FAA approval to use iPads "as electronic chart and digital flight manual readers," making it the world's first airline to be totally tablet friendly. A source close to the situation tells ZDNet that AA "will begin iPad operations on B-777 aircraft" before expanding to other planes, and that both first and second generation devices have been cleared for cockpit use. An AA pilot, meanwhile, tells TechCrunch that the company's tablets will feature JeppTC (a flight chart app available in the App Store), and that all onboard slates will be required to fly with an extra battery. The program, slated to kick off this Friday, could also offer substantial savings in paper and fuel costs. According to Seattle Pi's estimates, a single iPad would replace some 35 pounds of paper per year, translating to approximately $1.2 million in saved fuel costs. Insiders say United and Delta are pursuing similar initiatives, with the latter reportedly looking for an Android-specific solution, though at the moment, only American Airlines has won the FAA's seal of approval

Yet 80% of CX and KA pilots have an iPad in the cockpit and our ops departments are not even considering them :ugh:

Correct. A wannabe DFO recently told me 'no'. Yet my antique light airplane with the iPad mounted in the cockpit has more information available than has a Cathay Pacific jet!

I guess they would prefer to spend millions on EFB's :rolleyes:.

You are talking about the same team that can't even get a website to run properly 24/7, you think they will be able to pull of paper-less? At least you can open a book when you need to, imagine sitting there at the gate with a planeload of passengers unable to depart because it is "that time of the month" and you can't access the EFB.

Guys, hate to break it to you, but Cathay is 10 years behind the industry in just about EVERYTHING. What makes you think we'll be the first at the party with EFBs? FFS, we are still using paper tickets! They are so outdated that some interline carriers won't even allow them anymore. :rolleyes:

So the AA airplanes won't have ANY of the papers? Will they be fully electronic? But what if iPad freezes or something else happens during the flight? What do they do then? And btw, what class of EFB (I, II, III) does the iPad belong to and what type of EFB (1, 2, 3) does it support? Thanks.

Yoke..

I dont think it is a simple as that. You have the cost of purchasing and maintaining the ipads and the figure i heard quoted for the document subscription was in the order of US$600 per pilot per year. So at a conservative figure of 1000 (600 + 400 per ipad) per pilot, on 2500 pilots US2.5mil to set up and then 1.5mil ongoing costs.

I dont think its as cheap as people make out but, like the newspapers, the electronic subscription rate is dropping over the hardcopy. Unforunately the current document supplier has a bit of a monopoly.

Current document supplier is about to be replaced and enhanced with electronic subscription for all pilots. No approval initially for ipad use on the flight deck but watch this space.

Alaska Airlines has been using the iPad as their EFB since Jun, 2010 or 2011.

Alaska, AA and UAL (and Republic, the largest regional airline provider) are all going with the iPad.

Atlas, and reportedly DAL (Delta) are going with an Android based tablet.

I am not sure what the paper Jepps situation is. I do know that many "business" type jet operations already operate without any paper of any kind in the cockpit. The Emirates pilots that flew me in 2010 said EK was going totally paperless. Atlas is also planning on going totally paperless.

I have heard that some aviation organizations were required (by the FAA) to have one set of paper Jepps on the plane, in addition to the two EFBs, at least for a certain time period.

Also, the iPad has been through all the standard physical testing (depressurization, cold, hot, etc.) by the FAA before it was approved as an EFB.

cliff
BAH

The statement you make about testing by the FAA is not true. Airlines receive approval from their POI - read the FAA document closely.

What I love about this discussion is that it is the same group of people who are adamant lithium batteries should not be carried but hey lets load three in the cockpit and let out passengers play with them as well.