Saw this on a fishing site.

Aviation apps like Foreflight perform functions that $50k worth of instruments in the panel can't. I'm surprised the marine ones aren't more sophisticated. There are airlines certified to carry two iPads instead of paper charts.

Airlines? Is this true?

Tim

Yes, some if not all US airlines are now using I-pads. The helicopter charter my boss uses occasionally carries an I-pad with a backup LIon battery, his backup to the I-pad is an I-phone 5, running fore flight on both phone and I-pad. NO paper of any kind on board the bird, except toilet paper in the "survival supplies" bag in the back.

Paper on airliners, true in my case. Paper charts are being phased out but FAA requires many steps and proof of safety/redundancy. The iPad has to be mounted and hooked to a power source before all paper can be removed. Company issued iPads with all manuals and charts doesn't fit the requirement. Most airline cockpit technology was eclipsed over a decade ago by hand held GA equipment.

AA for sure uses them in all 600+ airliners they operate, saw it for myself in the cockpit of one of their 737's. RAM tab-tite mounted to the side with a couple of screws, no power supply, though I think they had a backup power-up battery in a flight bag. We use Foreflight in North America and JeppFD in the rest of the world. No power supply, but units need min 70% battery for dispatch, no mounts but they have to be in kneeboards if you want to reference approach plates during an IAP. All depends what is approved in your Ops Manual - we don't carry any paper at all now, had to for the first 6 months while on trial.

All maps and plates on the iPad are geo-referenced, and you can see your own aircraft position on them. Better than deciphering a couple of ADF needles or turning 90 degrees to your track to try figure out how far you are from a VOR, and all them lakes and wheat fields look the same. Much better GPS than most of what is installed in the aircraft. Amazing something that reliably tells you what lane you should be in on a freeway suddenly is questioned if it can keep you within 5 miles if you fly.

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You mean not charts or plated stuffed in the overhead? Do naval ships still have chronometers?

Tim

Tim,

Fear not, all airplanes, even a 787 have a magnetic compass....

MTV