American Airlines (AA) has become the first major commercial airline to put iPads in the cockpits of its entire fleet of aircraft, with 8,000 iPads now in use across their entire aircraft fleet.
Their decision to move digital
documents viewable on the iPad means that the 1.35-pound iPad replaces over 35
pounds of paper documents and reference manuals that pilots carry in their
kitbag. The iPads also allow for quick and efficient updating of manuals in
minutes without wasting paper.
It's projected that the use of the iPad as an electronic flight bag will save American Airlines 400,000 gallons of gas, or $1.2 million worth of fuel every year and eliminate 24 million pages of paper documents.
We wonder how long it will be before the iPad is actually controlling and flying the plane!