The iPad has landed

Today, technology is everywhere we turn. In our hand we can hold a degree of computing power that makes the Apollo 11 space mission’s capacity look like Morse Code and which only further highlights the brilliance of that space program. Nine year old children are far more at ease with a computer than could once have ever been imagined whereas a public telephone is almost alien…

When this author first learnt to fly I remember the mix of wonder and mystery that I felt when I unwrapped two of my first aviation tools – they were a Douglas protractor and a Kane dead reckoning computer. While one was little more than a piece of plastic with a superimposed grid, the other was an amazing circular slide rule with a flip side designed to dispel the myths of heading, ground speed and drift. Mind you, these were the days when calculators were banned in the classroom and the lone school computer was wheeled out on a trolley before demonstrating a digital form of table tennis.

At that time, and even today, aviation possessed not only its own language, but its own specialised equipment. From headsets to flight computers, these devices were only suitable for use in the aviation realm and were little more than a paperweight elsewhere. They came with their own industry-specific manuals and their own industry-specific plugs and cables, often stamped ‘FOR AVIATION USE ONLY’.

These essential items were designed for a niche marketplace and often carried the price tag to match. But then something happened.

With the rapid growth of the computer in the late twentieth century, the technology available to the man on the street not only matched the wonders of aerospace but overtook it at a great rate of knots. Flat screen TVs, laptops, smart-phones and the like became a part of everyday life with processing capacity and functionality that surpassed the majority of flight management computers. Continuing this vein of growth, the latest technological offering is the ‘tablet’, or in this case, the Apple iPad.

Intuitive with its operational logic, the iPad offers everything from internet access and user-friendly digital books to the ability to photograph and film and so much more. It is a true multi-functional device of amazing ability, but lacked the ‘FOR AVIATION USE ONLY’ endorsement. The fact is that the iPad has gone far beyond comparable aviation-based products and with the correct implementation it is a lightweight device that would be equally at home at sea level or in the stratosphere. The iPad has spread across the globe like wildfire and now it is set to take its place on the flightdecks of the Qantas fleet.

Coming on board

Qantas will progressively introduce the iPads from October, commencing with the Boeing 737 fleet and then a new fleet each subsequent month. Each pilot will be issued an iPad Gen 3, 64 Gb cellular device with WiFi connectivity, running iOS 5.1.1 or later with a screen protector, case and international travel adapter pack. Global roaming is not activated, however arrangements are being made to have free Wi-Fi available internationally, while the iPad’s sim card will be solely linked to the unit issued to the crews.

Qantas is not only among the first airlines in the world in introducing the iPad to the flightdeck, but is set to offer a more complete suite of functions across the entire fleet than is available elsewhere. To date, American has a ‘BYO device’ program, and it’s only currently available on its Boeing 777s, while United-Continental has issued 11,000 iPads to flightcrew but they are not being used on the aircraft at this point. Further north, Alaska Airlines has provided their crew with iPads but they excluded from use during takeoff or landing.

Although at the leading edge of the technology and with the roll-out beginning shortly, the process for the iPad’s implementation has been underway for some time. Its introduction has been under the stewardship of Captains David Oliver and Alex Passerini, Qantas’s pilots in charge of technology development and many hours of trials and testing have taken place to reach the current status. The iPad has had to prove itself through rapid decompression and electromagnetic interference chamber tests, before a series of flight tests to check its functionality on the flightdeck. Issues such as glare, reflection, crew egress, oxygen mask deployment, flight control actuation and tiller use all had to be considered with regard to the unit’s mounting and the design of a suitable bracket. This bracket is produced locally by Byron Aviation at Bankstown.

These brackets will be installed on the aircraft in the near future and their fitting is a requirement to be able to use the iPad and digital Jeppesen charts for takeoff and landing. The Jeppesen charts are accessed through an app known as the Jeppesen Mobile Flight Deck Pro and allows the crew to insert the planned route and display it on an en route map on the iPad. Flightcrew can individually select further data to be displayed such as airports, airspace boundaries, navaids and terrain, while a key stroke can take the pilot to the terminal charts for their departure and destination airports as well as up to two alternates.

Currently the aircraft carry two sets of Jeppesen paper charts as well as a weighty ‘Tough Book’ that serves as an electronic flight bag (EFB) containing company manuals and an operational performance tool (OPT) for performance calculations. Captain Passerini explains that in addition to the Jeppesen app, “The initial applications will be the Qantas QPilot app for manuals, key forms such as ASIRs, autoland reports and company flightcrew reports as well as flightplans. A second phase will include performance applications, which will then result in the retirement of the current EFB. In future phases, we envisage electronic technical log, crewing applications and many other opportunities to improve the flight crew’s access to company related information.”

Both Airbus and Boeing are developing performance software for use on the iPad. To date, the Airbus product is available, while the Boeing OPT app should be available in the third quarter of this year. When these apps are approved for operational use, the existing EFBs on the A330, 737 and 747 will be retired.

The iPad certainly makes a lightweight means for introduction of the ‘paperless cockpit’, however there will be a period of transition while the new technology is bedded in across the various fleets. Captain Passerini explains that this changeover will take, “…six weeks to reduce the ‘wow’ factor; allow proficiency to develop in the use of the various applications and data update process. It will also offer a period for crews to become familiar with their personal power consumption habits. After this period, one full set of Jeppesen charts will be removed, along with several manuals.”

However, paper forms of the Quick Reference Handbook, Technical Log and some other manuals will continued to be carried at this point. Finally, after a period of between six to nine months, the second set of Jeppesen charts will be removed, subject to regulatory approval.

Flightcrew will be permitted to use the iPads for personal use in accordance with Qantas policies and will receive a generous data allowance per month. Accordingly flightcrew will be expected to have the iPad suitably charged and critical Jeppesen and Qantas updates downloaded before commencing duty. This is achieved by a simple selection of a ‘sync’ button that is found on both the Qantas QPilot application and Jeppesen app and if a new update is pending, the crew will be notified. Furthermore, an out of date iPad will be brought to the attention of the iPad administration staff at Qantas.

The iPad has landed

The iPad is set to bring a wealth of information and accessibility to the flightdeck in a lightweight, user-friendly, portable device. It will also reduce the printing and distribution costs for 2,100 flightcrew and various manuals currently carried on board. For a fleet that travels the globe, it will see the latency for updating onboard information cut from three weeks down to less than 24 hours. Currently flightplan package printing equates to 18,000 pages of paper worldwide each day; this will be reduced to less than 3,000.

In so many ways, the iPad is set to have a positive impact on flight operations. It has been a significant process for Captain Oliver and his team at Qantas to bring the iPad to this stage of implementation, but the enhanced efficiencies that are to be gained will be evident from the first day of operation. It is indeed a far cry from a Douglas protractor and a Kane computer, but the time has come for this new technology on Qantas flightdecks.

The iPad has landed.