IPads in Airplanes

[mrmaster]

There we go - now Apple (the best company ever) is present in Airlines Cockpits just look at this article over at gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/5806528/alaska-ai...flight-manuals

[fsaviator]

Well... I'll tell you while that is cool... I can tell you that being in the Army... one of the first organizations to go paperless... it's all well and good until you need to look something up and the screen is cracked (cold weather), the battery is dead (hot weather), or it short-circuits (spilled coffee).

So let me get this straight... Alaskan Air (that flies over water into cold areas) is replacing all their heavy checklists and manuals (or just manuals) with an ipad. So when that QRH is on digits and you suffer an inadvertent decompression at altitude and you start your emergency descent with crap flying all over the cockpit, you'll be able to balance the very delicate ipad in your lap while getting your mask on in seconds, reacting to the emergency, and then going to the checklists.

You know what, maybe if they took the wireless internet and foot warmers out of first and business class, they could afford the weight of 100 lbs worth of solid, substantial, paper documents. Oh... damn... the iPad needs internet (or a cell connection) which they can't use in flight (oh wait, that's just us in the back).

Sorry for the rant... this stuff hits home as my rucksack gets heavier and heavier with great ideas like this, that always fail in a pinch.