United Airlines Invests in 11,000 iPads

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[citation][nom]del35[/nom]This is scary. Airlines purchasing a device for pilots to read manuals in with no user replaceable batteries and lacking connectivity. They would have done much better getting an Android tablet like the Toshiba Thrive.[/citation]
Just because you are a pilot, doesn't mean you are tech savvy... Having the battery NOT user replaceable prevents idiot pilots from fiddling with it. And in a corporate environment, the less connectivity the better: You don't want some idiot pilot plugging in his USB flash-drive to watch some movies while on autopilot, only to find out it has a virus that causes that pad to freeze...

As far as being a pressurized environment: I'd be more worried how they would react in an UNPRESSURIZED environment. Earth is pressurized at sea level... It is rapid decompression which might cause the iPad screens to pop out of their aluminum frame...
 
Hmm weight save = 38lbs..... average american passenger is obese so wherew is the saving ? What about if they ipad runs out of charge ???
 
Pilot: can someone draw the blinds i have trouble reading whats on page 256 because of the glare.......
 
Not sure what everyone's paranoia is. Sure it is not the most cost effective device they could have gone with (especially as they will have to replace the whole device in 3 years when the battery is shot), but it would be more convenient to look something up by a search as opposed to thumbing through a book in the event of a problem. They should keep the paper copy around, just in case something happens to the tech. all you need is one good bump of turbulence to knock something out, paper is more durable in those situations.
 
"Hmm weight save = 38lbs..... average american passenger is obese so where is the saving ? "

What does one have to do with the other?? And why just Americans? There are plenty of other countries in the same neighborhood... http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/the-world-is-fat/

"What about if they ipad runs out of charge ???"
(1) I assume that the pilot isn't flipping through his 12000 pages of documentation for the entire flight. My impression is that they know most of what they need to to take off, get where they are going and land without looking anything up. Since the iPad has a standby time of like 30 days and a run time of around 10 hours [probably more when it is just reading documents, not playing games, movies, music, etc], then how likely is it that they're going to kill a battery on a single flight or even a full days worth of flights?

(2) Who really thinks that there is not a single place to charge an electrical device anywhere within the cockpit of a commercial airplane? A USB port, DC or AC outlet is all you'd need.
 
That would defeat the purpose though, right? Fuel savings gone [actually increased since now you are adding a couple pounds worth of extra gear] and also no savings in terms of money or the environmental aspects with cutting out the huge amount of paper they are using.

Since I am about 98% positive [not a pilot and never been in a modern cockpit] that there would be no problem powering the device using AC, DC or USB somewhere in the cockpit -- who says they EVER have to depend on the batteries?

Are the pilots going to be physically carrying them around, or are they physically mounting them in the cockpit? If they are, benefit one is that it would then be really convenient to hard wire it somewhere. Benefit two, far less likely to be damaged from being dropped.

If they will just be using like a tablet-- then perhaps the biggest concern would be theft...
 
[citation][nom]Pyree[/nom]They will have several ipad as backup right? Wouldn't trust any electronic hardware to do with flying without redundancy.[/citation]

A friend of mine, who flies for a German airline, has a laptop (Sony or Lenovo - can't remember) in the cockpit. Redundancy is achieved by having both pilot and co-polit equipped with a laptop.
 
If it was an iPad1 I'd pass but the screen's so nice on them, much better than curled bits of paper flying around a cockpit. The screen is much clearer than the instrument panels. Surely HP should make a counterbid and offer 11,000 Touchpads at $99 and start an airline bidding war. Will we see reduced ticket prices. I think not. Stewardesses dig the iPads too.
 
This is why these airlines are losing money. If they want an electronics device for the purpose of replacing manuals, they'd be better off with an a proper e-reader that can last months on a charge and has better contrast for reading (heaven forbid we get an inexperienced pilot with a dead-battery iPad). Instead, they spend 2-4 times as much on iPads to grab media attention. BTW, this isn't going green: you're dishing out more "green" backs then needed and you're buying from a company that has one of the worst environmental records of any large tech company.

What's the probability you'll be hearing the sounds of Angry Birds coming from the cockpit the next time you use the toilet at the front of the plane?
 
"they apparently didn't know they could get 11,000 galaxy tabs or another tablet cheaper. someone needs to tell them about that apple tax"

So, you know how much both the iPad and GalaxyTab cost in terms of bulk pricing? Their BoMs are about the same, so I imagine both companies are capable of selling them in bulk at comparable prices.
 
[citation][nom]Pyree[/nom]They will have several ipad as backup right? Wouldn't trust any electronic hardware to do with flying without redundancy.[/citation]

Both the pilot and co-pilot will have the same type of manuals in their bags so if the pilot's ipad were to stop functioning the co-pilot will always have one. The same thing applies to flight attendants, each of them carries a saftey manual which it identical to the others.
 
[citation][nom]TheGreatEduardo[/nom]This is a positive step forward for this legacy airline. Fortunately for my airline, JetBlue, we've had a totally paperless flight deck FOR ELEVEN YEARS!!!! Only it isn't iPads...it's laptops, yup, full-blown, fully-functional, very capable laptop computers....FOR ELEVEN YEARS!!!! The industry has kinda caught up to JetBlue and now it's time for JetBlue to take it to another level. Standby folks, the techno war will heat up.....The Great Eduardo[/citation]

Then I will not be flying on Jet Blue

Computer devices fail. Paper does not.

-Signed
-An Aerospace Engineer
 
[citation][nom]digitalgriffin[/nom]Then I will not be flying on Jet BlueComputer devices fail. Paper does not.-Signed-An Aerospace Engineer[/citation]

You must not be a really good engineer...otherwise you'ld already know that computers are already driven by computers. Sure there's redundancy but nobody suggested that there would be only 1 iPad or Laptop so there's redundancy there's as well.
 
[citation][nom]STravis[/nom]You must not be a really good engineer...otherwise you'ld already know that computers are already driven by computers. Sure there's redundancy but nobody suggested that there would be only 1 iPad or Laptop so there's redundancy there's as well.[/citation]

Oops...should have read "planes are driven by computers"
 
[citation][nom]del35[/nom]This is scary. Airlines purchasing a device for pilots to read manuals in with no user replaceable batteries and lacking connectivity. They would have done much better getting an Android tablet like the Toshiba Thrive.[/citation]

lol, knew it was only a matter of time before this post would show up. lol
 
"Then I will not be flying on Jet BlueComputer devices fail. Paper does not.-Signed-An Aerospace Engineer"

JetBlue has been paperless for eleven years-- question, in regards to areas affected by going paperless, how is their safety record compared to airlines still using paper only? If it isn't worse, then obviously they figured out a pretty good way to reduce their paper use...
 
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