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It is outrageous that flights could be stopped because of a reliance of shiny iThings and the software running on them. Paper versions do not run out of juice.

It is outrageous that flights could be stopped because of a reliance of shiny iThings and the software running on them. Paper versions do not run out of juice. There is a place for shiny tech, but the flight deck is not it. Paper worked, and we should go back to it.

imglorp 11y ago
Paper comprises an entire suitcase. Charts, airport docs, aircraft manuals, maint logs, regulations, etc etc. Updates are frequent and also paper. The fuel savings alone from not carrying the paper is substantial. As long as there's a backup tablet, it should be okay. If they get lost they can always call in for vectors. ref: http://news.delta.com/index.php?s=20295&item=124327 http://news.delta.com/index.php?s=20295&item=124327
- ithingsnoway 11y ago
  Didn't the backup tablet also experience issues in this case?
  - CHY872 11y ago
    in which case they can call in for vectors
CHY872 11y ago
Why? It saves a tonne of cash ($1.2 million per year), and has led to a few dozen flights delayed, ever. It's wasteful to force the pilots to carry around 30lbs of paper which is out of date every few months, and which is not safety critical.
- anc84 11y ago
  > Why? It saves a tonne of cash ($1.2 million per year), and has led to a few dozen flights delayed, ever. In total? That's nothing.
  - CHY872 11y ago
    Well, airlines have to very aggressively optimise for efficiency with everything they do. They have huge revenues and very little in the way of profit (about 5%). It'd be foolish for them to not save money when they can.
ceejayoz 11y ago
> Paper worked, and we should go back to it. The article says pilots experienced "frequent injuries... from carrying heavy flight bags".
dalke 11y ago
Paper has its own problems. The article links to a more complete article on reasons why "shiny things" replaced paper, at http://hub.aa.com/en/nr/pressrelease/american-airlines-completes-electronic-flight-bag-implementation http://hub.aa.com/en/nr/pressrelease/american-airlines-compl... : > An Electronic Flight Bag, which replaces more than 35 pounds of paper-based reference material and manuals that pilots often carried in their carry-on kitbag, offers numerous benefits for American and its pilots. > ... removing the kitbag from all of our planes saves a minimum of 400,000 gallons and $1.2 million of fuel annually based on current fuel prices. Additionally, each of the more than 8,000 iPads we have deployed to date replaces more than 3,000 pages of paper previously carried by every active pilot and instructor. Altogether, 24 million pages of paper documents have been eliminated > ... All American pilots now enjoy the benefits associated with replacing their heavy kitbags – one of the airline's biggest sources of pilot injuries – with a 1.35-pound iPad. The digital format also requires less time to update each of the six or more paper manuals found in each pilot's kitbag, as manual paper revisions take hours to complete every month, compared to the minutes it takes for electronic updates.

imglorp 11y ago

Paper comprises an entire suitcase. Charts, airport docs, aircraft manuals, maint logs, regulations, etc etc. Updates are frequent and also paper. The fuel savings alone from not carrying the paper is substantial. As long as there's a backup tablet, it should be okay. If they get lost they can always call in for vectors. ref: http://news.delta.com/index.php?s=20295&item=124327 http://news.delta.com/index.php?s=20295&item=124327

ithingsnoway 11y ago
Didn't the backup tablet also experience issues in this case?
- CHY872 11y ago
  in which case they can call in for vectors

CHY872 11y ago

Why? It saves a tonne of cash ($1.2 million per year), and has led to a few dozen flights delayed, ever. It's wasteful to force the pilots to carry around 30lbs of paper which is out of date every few months, and which is not safety critical.

anc84 11y ago
> Why? It saves a tonne of cash ($1.2 million per year), and has led to a few dozen flights delayed, ever. In total? That's nothing.
- CHY872 11y ago
  Well, airlines have to very aggressively optimise for efficiency with everything they do. They have huge revenues and very little in the way of profit (about 5%). It'd be foolish for them to not save money when they can.

ceejayoz 11y ago

> Paper worked, and we should go back to it. The article says pilots experienced "frequent injuries... from carrying heavy flight bags".

dalke 11y ago

Paper has its own problems. The article links to a more complete article on reasons why "shiny things" replaced paper, at http://hub.aa.com/en/nr/pressrelease/american-airlines-completes-electronic-flight-bag-implementation http://hub.aa.com/en/nr/pressrelease/american-airlines-compl... : > An Electronic Flight Bag, which replaces more than 35 pounds of paper-based reference material and manuals that pilots often carried in their carry-on kitbag, offers numerous benefits for American and its pilots. > ... removing the kitbag from all of our planes saves a minimum of 400,000 gallons and $1.2 million of fuel annually based on current fuel prices. Additionally, each of the more than 8,000 iPads we have deployed to date replaces more than 3,000 pages of paper previously carried by every active pilot and instructor. Altogether, 24 million pages of paper documents have been eliminated > ... All American pilots now enjoy the benefits associated with replacing their heavy kitbags – one of the airline's biggest sources of pilot injuries – with a 1.35-pound iPad. The digital format also requires less time to update each of the six or more paper manuals found in each pilot's kitbag, as manual paper revisions take hours to complete every month, compared to the minutes it takes for electronic updates.