I-Pad as an EFB

[Fido]

Navtech Inc.: An EFB solution to enhance safety and efficiency

Customer Amapola Flyg AB needed an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) application to improve efficiency and address industry-related environmental issues. The company also requested that the application have low operating costs, be simple to use, and be highly flexible, so that the solution could be tailored to satisfy specific requirements.

Navtech's approach was to convert its existing electronic chart viewers into a reader application for Apple's iPad device.

Much like other EFB technologies, the new product reduces paper and clutter in the cockpit. However, it also decreases weight and fuel consumption. Its keyword search allows users to find pertinent information quickly. Plus, data can be updated through wireless transfer.

Approved by the Swedish CAA as a Class 2, Type B application, this solution also leverages the lightweight tablet format and is extremely portable. It utilizes many iPad functionalities, including swipe screens, playlist development, and pop-up menus to ease navigation.

As a result, pilots can access Navtech's 50,000-page charts library more easily. They can zoom in to see fine details and rotate, highlight, and write notes directly with a fingertip. With this tool, the workload on the flight deck will be reduced, thus increasing safety. Amapola Flyg AB is currently using the device in its fleet of Fokker 50 aircraft.

[Ex 9A Guy]

Commercial airlines look to Apple's iPad for paperless cockpits

By Katie Marsal

Published: 09:05 AM EST

With the Federal Aviation Administration granting early approval for the use of the iPad in airplane cockpits, major commercial airline companies like Delta are exploring the possibility of using Apple's touchscreen tablet to ditch paper maps entirely.

Delta Air Lines, the second-largest carrier in the world, is pursuing approval to test iPads and other tablet-style devices in its airline cockpits next quarter, a spokesman for the company told Bloomberg. The news comes just after the FAA endorsed the use of the iPad in a test project at Executive Jet Management.

The FAA began granting approval for "electronic flight bags," or computers for aviation use, in the last decade. But current options are bulky and heavy, with one aviation computer from Astronautics Corporation of America weighing 18 pounds. Apple's new iPad 2 weighs just 1.3 pounds.

On Feb. 1, the FAA granted the first approval for professional cockpit use of the iPad to Executive Jet Management. The Cincinnati-based company, owned by billionaire Warren Buffett's NetJets, made 250 flights as part of the certification process with maps and accessories created for the iPad by Boeing's aeronautical and charting company Jeppesen.

The FAA decision only applies, for now, to Buffett's company. But the report noted that "commercial carriers now have a template for winning permission for iPad use."

While Delta plans to begin exploring the use of the iPad next quarter, other major carriers like Alaska Airlines remain largely paper driven for charts. But the Alaska Air Group operation, with 116 aircraft, said it is already testing the iPad for some functions.

Officials with Jeppesen said they began developing iPad flight navigation software partially because pilots themselves requested it. The company said it plans to release similar software for tablets running the Google Android mobile operating system.

[W5]

http://www.jeppesen.com/main/corporate/microsites/jeppesen-mobile-tc/