The Federal Aviation Administration has given Alaska Airlines permission for its pilots to trade in about 25 pounds of required in-flight reading material—including operating manuals, checklists and logs—for an iPad loaded up with the same content in digital form. The airline hopes to eventually transition other required documentation like charts to tablets, which would remove about 60 pounds of weight from each flight, require less work for pilots to update and organize, and potentially reduce injuries caused by hoisting heavy flight bags.
The New York Times says that other airline are carrying out similar experiments. American Airlines now has permission to let its pilots use iPads to carry aeronautical charts and reference manuals.
“The Paperless Cockpit” [New York Times]
(Photo: philosophygeek)
