United Airlines is set to provide all of its pilots with iPads by the end of the year as part of a changeover to paperless flight manuals.
The airline announced plans Tuesday to distribute the tablets to the 11,000 pilots who fly with United and Continental.
The iPads, which United calls electronic flight bags (EFB’s), will use an iPad app, allowing pilots access to navigational charts, logbooks, flight checklists and real-time information on weather updates.
The use of technology will significantly reduce the paper load for pilots with the iPad weighing less than 1.5 pounds compared to paper operating manuals weighing 38 pounds.
“Some examples of benefits are increased situational awareness and easier, faster access to flight information,” said Perry Flint from the International Air Transport Association, a trade organization representing the airline industry. “Improvements in computing capability and data analysis can provide more accurate information for pilots.”
Bill Voss president and CEO of Flight Safety Foundation, a nonprofit organization advocating for aviation safety, said the use of iPads and other tablets on the flight deck can help advance safety.
“The first applications will provide better access to important flight information that we use today, but the real promise will be what the tablets can be used for in the future,” Voss said. “All of this comes at a very low risk. The iPad has been carefully tested for navigational interference and other tablets will be subject to the same rigorous examination.”
In addition, the use of the iPad will save an average of 12,000 sheets of paper per pilot, according to the airline.
“For years, the presentation of information to pilots has been severely constrained by the extraordinary cost and lead time associated with installing new displays in the cockpits. It can take many years and many millions of dollars for an airline to make the necessary modifications to the cockpit,” Voss said.
“Now that these simple and reliable devices are readily available, information will finally have a path to flow into the cockpit without lengthy delays.”