Alaska Airlines goes green with iPad

As part of an ongoing effort to use technology to enhance flight safety, improve efficiency and protect the environment, Alaska Airlines is issuing iPad tablet computers to its pilots. The 1 1/2-pound iPads replace up to 25 pounds of paper flight manuals that pilots are required to carry when they fly. The iPads are being distributed to all Alaska Airlines pilots, a process that will be complete by mid-June. This follows a successful trial by 100 line and instructor pilots and Air Line Pilots Association representatives, who evaluated the feasibility of using iPads as electronic flight bags this past winter and spring.

Alaska Airlines is the first major domestic airline to use the iPad to replace paper manuals. "We've been exploring the idea of an electronic flight bag for several years, but never found a device we really liked," said Gary Beck, Alaska Airlines' vice president of flight operations. "When the iPad hit the market, we took one look at it and said this is the perfect fit." The iPads contain an app called GoodReader that is loaded with PDF versions of 41 flight, systems and performance manuals, reference cards, and other materials. The electronic manuals include hyperlinks and color graphics, enabling pilots to find information faster and easier. Updating these reference materials can now be accomplished with one tap on the iPad screen instead of the former, labor-intensive process of replacing individual pages with new ones. The iPad is considered a Class 1 electronic device, meaning it is stowed during takeoff and landing under Federal Aviation Administration regulations.

In conjunction with replacing paper manuals, Alaska Airlines is exploring the replacement of paper aeronautical navigation charts with electronic versions on the iPad, eliminating the need for every pilot to carry their own copy. The two initiatives, dubbed "Bye, Bye, Flight Bag," will save about 2.4 million pieces of paper. The cost of the project is expected to be offset by lower paper, printing and distribution expenses and reduced fuel consumption as some weight is removed from the aircraft. Further savings are expected from fewer back and muscle injuries caused by pilots carrying flight bags that can tip the scales at 50 pounds or more fully loaded.

FAA approves IPAD's in cockpit

Apple's iPad has won approval from US regulators to display navigational charts for some charter pilots, a step that may see the end of paper maps in the cockpit. With the Federal Aviation Administration endorsing iPads in a test project at Executive Jet Management, a unit of Warren Buffett's NetJets, the way is open for others to seek authorisation for, said Les Dorr, an agency spokesman.

IPad use by professional pilots would support Apple's goal of winning more business buyers. The company's total corporate sales may rise 51 per cent to $11.3 billion (Dh41.50b) in 2011, said Brian Marshall, a Gleacher and Co analyst in San Francisco. Revenue was $76.3 billion last year. "This is mission-critical computing," said Marshall, who has a "buy" rating on Apple. "For them to win this type of approval speaks volumes about the level of sophistication of what can be accomplished with the iPad."

Charts showing data such as airports and radio frequencies for a state or region have been staples of US flying since the 1930s. But so-called electronic flight bags, computers configured for aviation use, began winning FAA approval for use at airlines in the last decade, superseding paper charts. A unit from Milwaukee-based Astronautics Corporation of America weighs 8.2 kilograms, 12 times as much as the iPad.

Apple's tablet wasn't cleared as a navigation device in a professional cockpit until FAA's February 1 approval to Executive Jet. While the decision only covers Executive Jet, commercial carriers now have a citable case for iPad use, according to Jeppesen, the Boeing map and accessory business that designed the application used.

Pilots at Alaska Air Group's Alaska Airlines, which uses only paper charts in its 116 aircraft, are testing iPads for some functions, said Marianne Lindsey, a spokeswoman. AMR's American Airlines and American Eagle rely on paper charts in its 900-plane fleet, said Ed Martelle, a spokesman. Delta Air Lines, the world's second-largest carrier, is still paper driven, according to Gina Laughlin, a spokeswoman. Delta is pursuing approval to test iPads and other tablet devices next quarter, Laughlin added.

"Many air carriers have been using electronic flight bags for years, but they've been carrying the paper with them as well," said Alison Duquette, an FAA spokeswoman. The iPad's touch-screen and illumination display could be an advantage over folded paper in finding information such as an emergency-landing site, said John Cox, a former US Airways pilot who is now chief executive officer of consultant Safety Operating Systems LLC in Washington. "It's easier to sort through the charts that you need."