By: Aseem Gaurav on August 24, 2011
After Delta, United Continental Holdings is adopting Aple’s iPad computer tablets in a big way. The airline has decided to replace paper flight manuals and instead use the tablets electronic flight bags (EFBs) in its effort to go high-tech.
At the end of 2011, United would have rolled out 11,000 iPads to all of its pilots.
The paperless flight deck would represent the next generation of flying as each iPad, will replace about 38 pounds of paper operating manuals, navigation charts and other pilot materials. In comparison, the tablet weighs around 1.5 pounds and the pilots can get all the information using the Jeppesen Mobile FliteDeck app. The app offers data-driven enroute navigation information and worldwide geo-referenced terminal charts.
Captain Fred Abbott, United's senior vice president of flight operations, said the device’s introduction would mean that pilots can assess all the relevant and real-time information at their perusal at all times during the flight.
The green benefits of EFBs are two-folds: first it would save around 16 million sheets of paper a year and second will save 326,000 gallons of jet fuel due to reduction in weight, leading to reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 3,208 metric tons.
United says through ECBs, pilots can quickly and efficiently access reference material without spending too much efforts in going through thousands of sheets of paper.
