American Airlines to Save $1.2 Million By Using iPads Instead of Paper Charts

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Posted June 17, 2011 at 10:36am by iClarified

American Airlines began testing iPads yesterday in an effort to ditch paper navigational charts and save about $1.2 million a year in fuel, according to MarketWatch.

Pilot flight bags typically weigh 35 pounds or more, and contain navigational charts and other important flight information. The tablets are being tested on two flights departing Los Angles for Tokyo and Shanghai, respectively. The Federal Aviation Administration has approved the iPad tables for all phases of flight, allowing for the first time the use of device during takeoff and landing.

This announcement follows the news that Alaska Airlines would similarly issue iPads to its pilots. The 1 1/2-pound iPads replace up to 25 pounds of paper flight manuals that their pilots are required to carry when they fly. Alaska Airlines expects to have completed the switchover process by this month.

American Airlines to Save $1.2 Million By Using iPads Instead of Paper Charts

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nikolasrx8 - June 21, 2011 at 7:51pm

exactly what is the point of all this? Did you know that 6% of pilots and copilots have admitted that they have fallen asleep in a recently conducted survey in the US and Europe....??? And YES they are licensed to fly around carrying 100 souls with them... Now who wants to bet that even a few pilots will be more concentrated on high-scoring their Angry Birds rather than taking their "metal bird" to Rio (de Janeiro).....?

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ElTraqueteoNet - June 17, 2011 at 3:05pm

Hopefully this would change their $50 for extra baggage policy even though I doubt this will happen. In the bright side: Less fuel, less waste, less damage to the environment!

Cyber Angels - June 17, 2011 at 2:05pm

No matter what, it is destruction for pilots, and YES it is Extremely danger to use it during flights. Sometimes All iphone or ipad devices get frozen and unresponsive , this may put the lives of people on board in danger . ipad or any other electronic devices are not sophisticated to be trusted in this kind of situations. however it is 50-50 chance will they help or fail in critical moments. it is not that 99.9 % users rely on their iphone GPS which is controlled by US - Air-force Which is ok to trust.

Aric - June 18, 2011 at 2:41pm

I read in another article that there will always be a paper version of the manual on board as a precaution.

Abdul - June 18, 2011 at 3:17pm

My rhoughts exactly.

HA - June 17, 2011 at 2:04pm

Pilot Pete - June 17, 2011 at 11:35am

This will be great except during take offs and landings when they will have to shut them off... That rule is such bullsh¡t.

ikkviper - June 17, 2011 at 12:32pm

uhhh....this is straight from the article...lol "The Federal Aviation Administration has approved the iPad tables for all phases of flight, allowing for the first time the use of device during takeoff and landing."

Really!!! - June 17, 2011 at 3:07pm

While I agree the rule is BS the interference is by the antenna (which really causes almost no interference) on such devices and the reason they want you to shut them off is so people are not distracted during preflight safety sessions. Learning where the doors are, how to use your butt cushion as a floating device, using your seatbelt. It's easier to give some BS rule. Then to deal with peoples ideas of what they think is right or acceptable. IMO