American Airlines Pilots to Start Using iPads This Week
American Airlines has been given the go-ahead to allow its pilots to use iPads in the cockpit.
Early this year, United Airlines announced that it planned to adopt a paperless flight deck and distribute 11,000 iPads to United and Continental pilots as part of a new electronic flight bag scheme. This week, American Airlines will throw a plan into action after receiving the approval from the FAA. ZDNEt claims to have received confirmation from a source that says the airline was just recently given the green light to allow the use of iPads (both the first and second generation) in place of paper flight manuals. AA is said to have flown thousands of hours with iPads to test the device.
"On Friday, American Airlines is the first airline in the world to be fully FAA approved to use iPads during all phases of flight," this source is quoted as saying. "Pilots will use iPads as electronic chart and digital flight manual readers. The airline will begin iPad operations on B-777 aircraft, and then implement across all other fleets."
By replacing paper flight manuals with iPads, American Airlines will be improving both safety and efficiency on its flights. ZDNet's source indicates that though other airlines (such as continental) have made their plans to replace their paper manuals with iPads, they have not received approval to conduct flight operations in all phases of flight.
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Will they have a picture of Alec Baldwin set as the background? Also, I'm sure timing is just coincidental, but many pilots will be getting pink slips and massive salary cuts just as they see less-critical updates such as books replaced by iPads.
It's ironic how AMR just filed for bankruptcy to try to cut costs and restructure itself as a company. Sounds like a poorly-managed company.
man, and here I was hoping I would be safe while traveling for Christmas. Now I am going to have a pilot crashing into a mountainside while distracted with Angry Birds...
On a related note of distracted pilots: http://roosterteeth.com/archive/?id=4040
I feel good for the guy that wrote the program that they'll be using, unless they're just using a pdf reader
Capt. Sully would not approve.
I can just see them playing multi-player Doodle Jump up there and missing their destination like those NWA pilots that were grounded for playing with their laptops.
Capt. Sully would not approve.I can just see them playing multi-player Doodle Jump up there and missing their destination like those NWA pilots that were grounded for playing with their laptops.
Or Words with Friends.
Does this mean a representative for the passengers can come into the cockpit to ask the Pilot to turn off there electronic devices? "I'm sorry sir, Airplane Mode isn't enough. Please turn off your iPad"
Just wondering; does that mean passengers can now also use their iPads during 'all phases of the flight' ?
And in other news, my employer just upgraded all of workstations to sandy bridge xeon multi cpu systems.
Isn't that exciting?
And relevant?
No wonder that they declared bankrupt. Instead using an Android tablet or WebOS Tablet they decided to buy the most expensive and user-unfriendly tablet in the market.
"Just wondering; does that mean passengers can now also use their iPads during 'all phases of the flight' ?"
No. From what I understand, the ban on electronics during takeoff/landing isn't so much about interference with traffic control signals (other than phones, which definitely could interfere), but that they don't want loose objects smacking people during those phases (and they are more likely to move around when the plane suddenly tilts up or down or banks in one direction).
No wonder that they declared bankrupt.
Actually, the cost of buying several hundred iPads is a one-time investment. Continually carrying around up to 20 pounds of paper charts costs an airline over $1m in fuel per aircraft per year.
Also
they decided to buy the most expensive and user-unfriendly tablet in the market.
Are you suggesting that Android devices are more user friendly than Apple devices? I'm no Apple fanboy, but that's the dodgiest of dodgy claims. Apple's entire business model pretty much centers on user-friendliness.
Yes, that's what pilots need in cockpit... more toys for distraction. Next time we'll be lucky if they overshoot their destination only by 100 miles, instead of going all the way to Russia.
Actually, the cost of buying several hundred iPads is a one-time investment. Continually carrying around up to 20 pounds of paper charts costs an airline over $1m in fuel per aircraft per year.
$1m per aircraft per year to carry 20 pounds???? Let's say the plane does 10 flights per day (year right, real short distance, but to exaggerate my point!) for 365 days (maintenance free airplane). so 3,650 flights total for the year...take $1m / 3650 = $274 (roughtly) per flight to carry 20 pounds????
Your F'd up, don't make stupid ass comments about how much stuff costs airlines when you have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA.
"Just wondering; does that mean passengers can now also use their iPads during 'all phases of the flight' ?"No. From what I understand, the ban on electronics during takeoff/landing isn't so much about interference with traffic control signals (other than phones, which definitely could interfere), but that they don't want loose objects smacking people during those phases (and they are more likely to move around when the plane suddenly tilts up or down or banks in one direction).
Ummmm... no. They let you read books, but they scoff at e-books (happened to me). AFAIK, books can as easily fly off one's hands as e-books, even more so, because they're bulkier. It's only about interference (and sheer ignorance about what a non-WIFI-non-radio-enabled e-book is about).
They're assuming the pilots know how to put their devices in airplane mode, and also that all the passengers are a bunch of ignorant people... hence the double standards.
And, BTW, the chances of radio interference from handheld devices like cell phones are next to zero, since they operate on different frequencies than FAA equipment; that's why pilots are sometimes actually using their phones in the cockpit (of course, away from public eyes). They already know the risk is not there anymore (not with modern equipment).
Another example: they won't let one use their GPS during flight (even a stand-alone GPS) for same bogus reasons, even though such a device is just a receiver of GPS signals, which are out there anyways and being used by the plane's GPS itself.
jacekring, he's right, it would cost that much...and I'm an aeronautical engineer, so I think I have an idea.
No wonder that they declared bankrupt. Instead using an Android tablet or WebOS Tablet they decided to buy the most expensive and user-unfriendly tablet in the market.
Oh please any Android tablet is just an oversized Droid and any iPad is just an oversized iTouch. They should've waited until W8 tablets started coming out for the sole reason of being able to do more with them. Maybe they could've consolidated even more with a tablet running a real OS.
i'm sorry, but i'm rooting for an exploding battery related plane crash. Maybe then sanity will be restored.
jacekring, he's right, it would cost that much...and I'm an aeronautical engineer, so I think I have an idea.
really?
Ok say it's a flight that goes to Paris, France...they can only do basically a round trip per 24 hours realistically (probably more then 24 hours with maintenance, cleaning, refueling, unloading passengers, loading passengers and waiting at airports for an open runway). I can get a ticket to Paris from NJ for about $520 + tax/fees so say $650 total. I weigh 150 pounds + baggage 50 pounds. So for $650 they will take 200 pounds and they feel they are making a profit.
But same plane traveling every day, so 365 * 2, 730 trips. At $1 million to carry 20 pounds of manuals for 730 trips comes to $1,370 (roughly) per trip, just to carry 20 pounds of manuals??? Please correct me if my math is off, but that's ridiculous. That comes to $68.50 per pound for manuals, and for passengers it comes to $3.25 per pound. Are they like spread the pages out and glue them to the outside hull to create more drag or something?
Who makes decisions like this anyways?
jacekring,
Your calc assumes 200 pounds of weight for your ticket, but you don't account for the proportion of weight of the aircraft you're also paying for. That weight includes structure, avionics, interior, fuel and (amongst a lot of other things) the flight manuals. You need to think of the total cost to in tickets to fill the plane versus the cost to operate it for that flight, then work out what proportion of the cost is allocated to the manuals.
American Airlines in 1987 removed 1 olive from every meal in first-class for every flight. So that's about 50 olives per flight and that saved them approximately $40,000 that year.
1 olive = 0.004 lbs
50 olives = 0.22 lbs
Assume 100 flights a year (in reality it's more but this is just to see how it scales up):
100 flights * 0.22 lbs removed = 22 lbs removed
Removing 22 lbs over 100 flights saves $40k.
Over 100 flights, this is $1,818/lb/flight.
Flight manuals = 20 lbs
If we removed flight manuals, weight saved over 100 flights is 2,000 lbs.
Savings by removing flight manuals / cost of carrying flight manuals over 100 flights = 2,000 lbs * $1,818/lb/flight = $3.64M.
It's not hard to see how removing 20lbs of payload from the aircraft per flight can save $1M/year in a real-world scenario.
So pilots flying airplanes can go ahead and have ipads to doodle on but we as drivers can't use our cell phones while driving!?!? makes sense...
jacekring,Your calc assumes 200 pounds of weight for your ticket, but you don't account for the proportion of weight of the aircraft you're also paying for. That weight includes structure, avionics, interior, fuel and (amongst a lot of other things) the flight manuals. You need to think of the total cost to in tickets to fill the plane versus the cost to operate it for that flight, then work out what proportion of the cost is allocated to the manuals.American Airlines in 1987 removed 1 olive from every meal in first-class for every flight. So that's about 50 olives per flight and that saved them approximately $40,000 that year. 1 olive = 0.004 lbs50 olives = 0.22 lbsAssume 100 flights a year (in reality it's more but this is just to see how it scales up):100 flights * 0.22 lbs removed = 22 lbs removed Removing 22 lbs over 100 flights saves $40k. Over 100 flights, this is $1,818/lb/flight.Flight manuals = 20 lbsIf we removed flight manuals, weight saved over 100 flights is 2,000 lbs.Savings by removing flight manuals / cost of carrying flight manuals over 100 flights = 2,000 lbs * $1,818/lb/flight = $3.64M.It's not hard to see how removing 20lbs of payload from the aircraft per flight can save $1M/year in a real-world scenario.
Illogical, he's right, you're wrong. You're completely obfuscating everything with your made up numbers, and fluff.
Plain reality, the planes aren't going to change their structure because of 20 pounds of manuals. Everything will remain the same, except for the manuals. To save a million dollars a year, let's assume even 500 flights, you'd have save $2000 per flight on 20 pounds of paper.
Sorry, you're wrong. Not only that, you're very wrong. They'd be charging people by the pound if that were the case. They'd also have treadmills as part of the basic equipment in the cockpit instead of iPads.
Try all your fancy footwork instead of admitting you're wrong. It's only going to fool fools. Hell, I could argue the 20 pound manuals save money because they burn calories while they move them, and if you add up all those calories over the lifetime of a pilot, it adds up to more than 20 pounds of calories. It's not hard to be confusing and make up stupid stuff. But, it's not helpful.
Remember it is a bankrupt company
I wonder if the glare on the ipad screens will be an issue. Glossy screen glare certainly annoys me, that's for sure.
Actually, the cost of buying several hundred iPads is a one-time investment. Continually carrying around up to 20 pounds of paper charts costs an airline over $1m in fuel per aircraft per year.
Your making that statistic up. By that logic, adding one 120 pound steward(ess) to the roster costs them $6 million dollars a year before salary and benefits.
Am I the only one who isn't comfortable with the idea of airplane flight manuals running out of battery power or locking up?
forget battery power and lock ups. if my pilot needs to take 5 minutes out of his day for an emergency to look in the manual - clearly he doesn't have enough flight time!
"Just wondering; does that mean passengers can now also use their iPads during 'all phases of the flight' ?"No. From what I understand, the ban on electronics during takeoff/landing isn't so much about interference with traffic control signals (other than phones, which definitely could interfere), but that they don't want loose objects smacking people during those phases (and they are more likely to move around when the plane suddenly tilts up or down or banks in one direction).
Oh, but reading a book is cool? I would think a hard cover to the head would hurt too.
Am I the only one who isn't comfortable with the idea of airplane flight manuals running out of battery power or locking up?
I'm sure there will be AC adapter plugs built into the cockpit so they can keep it on the charger easily
I heard the million dollar statistic second hand, I admit, but even if the real loss is 20x less than that - an iPad is still a superb investment.