United Airlines uses 11,000 iPads to take planes paperless

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
United is the latest airline to ditch pilots' paper flight manuals, having announced today that it is distributing 11,000 iPads across all of its Continental and United flight decks.



Going green with a light and streamlined machine



United said in a press release that its new iPad-bearing pilots will use Jeppesen Mobile FliteDeck, "the industry's premier app featuring interactive, data-driven enroute navigation information and worldwide geo-referenced terminal charts. The enhanced full-color, high-quality information display ensures the right information is displayed at the right time."



In addition to having less weight to carry in and out of the plane, the weight savings also saves fuel, while reducing the amount of unnecessary paper used and printed by airlines.



United states that "a conventional flight bag full of paper materials contains an average of 12,000 sheets of paper per pilot. The green benefits of moving to EFBs are two-fold: it significantly reduces paper use and printing, and, in turn, reduces fuel consumption.



"The airline projects EFBs will save nearly 16 million sheets of paper a year which is equivalent to more than 1,900 trees not cut down. Saving 326,000 gallons of jet fuel a year reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 3,208 metric tons."



Credit: American Airlines



iPad mile high club



The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration approved the use of iPads to replace paper flight bags of navigation charts and system manuals this spring, with Alaska Air being the first carrier to adopt Apple's tablet.



Other airlines have also rapidly adopted iPad flight bags, including American Airlines and Delta.



New electronic manuals stored on iPads are popular because they can shed around 40 pounds of paper weight per pilot and are also easier to navigate, read and keep up to date, using hyperlinks, color graphics and automatic updates rather than thumbing through reams of paper and needing to cycle out old pages for new pages as information changes.



iPad flight bags are also much cheaper. Alaska Air pilot Jack Long noted he could scrap his $1,414 a year subscriptions to paper maps and charts and replace them with the same maps and charts sent to his two iPads for only $150 a year.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 78
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    iHating Apple trolls have conveniently been silent as the boards have been displaying this development.



    They're probably reading this from the comfort of their bathrooms using their new TouchPads.



    This is great news for Apple and the airline industry. So much for iPads being toys.
  • Reply 2 of 78
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    How's this for a switch? United chooses the simplified, dead-easy and "just works" iPad for the professional pilots with years of technical training. American chooses the more customizable and geeky (?) Samsung Tab for their "untrained" passengers.



    Must be opposite day. . .
  • Reply 3 of 78
    does this worry anyone?
  • Reply 4 of 78
    This isn't post-pc...



    It is where pc could never go!
  • Reply 5 of 78
    Actually selling my King 90B GPS to get into a new iPad/Jeppesen combo since I don't need the IFR of the 90b...
  • Reply 6 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by punkrocker27ka View Post


    does this worry anyone?



    No! There will be one paper copy on the flight -- but, likely the paper copy won't be up to date and the iPads will!
  • Reply 7 of 78
    envirogenvirog Posts: 188member
    Awesome! Paperless cockpits leading the charge to paperless offices-Hopefully
  • Reply 8 of 78
    obamaobama Posts: 62member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by punkrocker27ka View Post


    does this worry anyone?



    Naah. Not at all,



    Bad enough people are driving cars while texting.



    And kids are walking down the street bumping into lamp posts while tweeting.



    And train operators in California are face booking with rail fans and causing head on collisions.



    By all means, let airline pilots play angry birds while flying the plane.



    Welcome to the post pc era folks.
  • Reply 9 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by punkrocker27ka View Post


    does this worry anyone?



    Are you thinking what I'm thinking?



    Angry Birds!
  • Reply 10 of 78
    macslutmacslut Posts: 514member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by punkrocker27ka View Post


    does this worry anyone?



    As a pilot, and as an iPad owner, no; not at all.



    What would worry me is to be in a plane where the pilot is digging through a bag trying to find something that is out of date, missing, damaged, or just harder to use than an iPad.
  • Reply 11 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post


    This isn't post-pc...



    It is where pc could never go!



    This is post-paper.
  • Reply 12 of 78
    rot'napplerot'napple Posts: 1,839member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post


    No! There will be one paper copy on the flight -- but, likely the paper copy won't be up to date and the iPads will!



    Greeeeat... "the paper copy won't be up to date", does this worry anyone?

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  • Reply 13 of 78
    rot'napplerot'napple Posts: 1,839member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macslut View Post


    As a pilot, and as an iPad owner, no; not at all.



    What would worry me is to be in a plane where the pilot is digging through a bag trying to find something that is out of date, missing, damaged, or just harder to use than an iPad.



    iPad with a 10 hour battery on an 11 hour flight...

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  • Reply 14 of 78
    rot'napplerot'napple Posts: 1,839member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    "The airline projects EFBs will save nearly 16 million sheets of paper a year which is equivalent to more than 1,900 trees not cut down. Saving 326,000 gallons of jet fuel a year reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 3,208 metric tons.



    These savings will show up in reduced ticket prices of course.

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  • Reply 15 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rot'nApple View Post


    iPad with a 10 hour battery on an 11 hour flight...

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    Perhaps you have heard of this neat-o contraption called an iPad charger? And you do know that you can actually use your iPad while it's charging?



    Or are you just being an ass?
  • Reply 16 of 78
    Winning
  • Reply 17 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rot'nApple View Post


    Greeeeat... "the paper copy won't be up to date", does this worry anyone?

    /

    /

    /



    Yes. The airline apparently. That's why they are switching to the more reliable ipad.
  • Reply 18 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rot'nApple View Post


    iPad with a 10 hour battery on an 11 hour flight...

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    /

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    That's if it's in use for 10 hours. I doubt they need to have it working that long, unless they're busy playing Angry Birds.
  • Reply 19 of 78
    storneostorneo Posts: 101member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    "The airline projects EFBs will save nearly 16 million sheets of paper a year which is equivalent to more than 1,900 trees not cut down. Saving 326,000 gallons of jet fuel a year reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 3,208 metric tons."



    It's a start in the right direction! Kudos to the airline industry for embracing technology to save $ and the planet.
  • Reply 20 of 78
    Will they have to switch them off completely during take off and landing?
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