“What is in those bulky, black flight bags that pilots carry into the cockpit? It is not a change of clothes but reams of reference material needed for the flight — about 40 pounds of it,” Kate Murphy reports for The New York Times.
“There are the aircraft’s operating manual, safety checklists, logbooks for entering airplane performance data, navigation charts, weather information, airport diagrams and maybe a book of KenKen puzzles thrown in for good measure,” Murphy reports. “But instead of carrying all that paperwork, a growing number of pilots are carrying a 1.5 pound iPad.”
Murphy reports, “The Federal Aviation Administration has authorized a handful of commercial and charter carriers to use the tablet computer as a so-called electronic flight bag. Private pilots, too, are now carrying iPads, which support hundreds of general aviation apps that simplify preflight planning and assist with in-flight operations. ‘The iPad allows pilots to quickly and nimbly access information,’ said Jim Freeman, a pilot and director of flight standards at Alaska Airlines, which has given iPads to all its pilots. ‘When you need to a make a decision in the cockpit, three to four minutes fumbling with paper is an eternity.'”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]