iPads in the Air – Alaska Airlines Pilots Fly with iPads

As the functionality of iPads continue to advance beyond personal computing, more and more industries look to use them in job specific situations. Most recently, Alaska Airlines completed a pilot (no pun intended) program using iPads in place of bulky and expensive traditional paper-based flight manuals for airline, instructor, and Pilots Association representative pilots. Paper manuals are constantly updated and can weigh up to 25 pounds in the pilots’ flight bags. On top of weight per pilot, it has the potential to save 2.4 million pieces of paper, making the initiative extremely environmentally friendly.

Now, I know what you may be thinking, why are the pilots allowed to use electronic devices but us lowly passengers are not? Don’t fret, even the pilots have to stow their iPads during take-off and landings. Their iPads however, come loaded with 41 different manuals, references, and stll forthcoming, aeronautical navigation charts. Rather than tediously updating the manuals page by page when they become outdated, all pilots have to do is update them with a tap of the screen.

As previously mentioned, airlines are also in the process of replacing aeronautical navigation charts with the 1 1/2 pound iPad, which stands to replace an almost 50 pound fully loaded flight bag per pilot. In an article from the magazine Flying Magazine, a new app calledForeFlight Mobile HD promises to further lighten the load. The app boasts high definition weather, navigational, and moving maps to name a few. Although this app has not been named specifically as the premier navigational map replacement, it is likely that it will be an integral part of what Alaska Airlines is calling the “Bye, Bye, Flight Bag” initiative.

The implementation of the change should be complete by mid-June, and although Alaska Airlines is the first domestic carrier to replace paper charts with iPads, other airlines are likely to follow suit in the near future. The vice president of flight operations, Gary Beck, mentioned that the airline had looked for devices to use in the initiative for some time and when the iPad hit the market the company knew that they had found the “perfect fit.”