Flight mode

Within the organisation, the process of implementation called for the progressive education of thousands of pilots and the logistics of issuing the hardware. This must be considered against the backdrop of senior pilots nearing retirement who were not overly ‘Apple-savvy’ being asked to convert from a system they had used for 40 years. And yet somehow it was achieved.

Now the crews have an amazingly straight-forward tool with ever-increasing capabilities.

Initially there were some isolated pockets of resistance amongst the pilot body, but they were a minority that were eventually won over. Technically, the process of uploading certain software and app updates needed streamlining and battery life issues needed to be addressed. In time, these few hurdles met with solutions and the advantages quickly outweighed the teething problems.

In fact, the transition from paper to digital was made in an impressive timeframe and with such success that a year later it is difficult to recall the initial gremlins. Now the crews have an amazingly straightforward tool with ever-increasing capabilities. The iPad has brought pilots into a brave new world.

The world at your fingertips

On first consideration, the use of digital airways and terminal charts is the overwhelming difference on the ‘paperless’ flightdecks. This is true, but even within the Jeppesen ‘App’, the available information and its accessibility is constantly improving. It is far more than a trade-off from paper to a digital display. There is the ability to highlight crossing heights and airspeed restrictions on charts in a way that was tantamount to vandalism on a paper chart.

Small print can be magnified simply by zooming in and a night setting transforms the chart to a black backdrop with white detail to avoid an annoying glow on the flightdeck or the need to switch on a chart light overhead. An inconvenient change of runway or STAR requires a few screen touches rather than hauling out folders and finding new approach plates in a maze of flying paper. Even switching from the STAR to the instrument approach and ultimately the taxi chart can be achieved with atwo-finger swipe in the latest update.

And the Jeppesen application is only one aspect of the new iPad world.

For years hefty performance manuals sat atop the instrument panel as each crew member awaited their turn to extract takeoff speeds and other critical data needed to take the aeroplane into the skies. Then, after all the numbers were in, a runway change would occur and the whole process of calculation and cross-checking would take place again, one by one. With the introduction of the iPad, the critical task of independent calculation and cross-checking is preserved, but the crew can extract the numbers from their iPad when it fits in with their duties in a timely manner. There is no ‘waiting their turn’ for the manual and then the entire crew can come together to verify their calculations and enter the data.

It is a more time-efficient solution and does not come with the ‘width of a pencil’ variations that resulted from well-worn paper graphs. And should there be an increase in zero fuel weight, a change of runway or weather at the last moment? The new data is simply entered to the existing template and the data cross-checked again. In cases where suspicions exist of an imminent change, calculations can even be made in advance and a screen shot taken of the new data.

Previously, when temporary obstacles or runway works arose, it called for the production and distribution of tailored performance charts. With the iPad, that data can be simply entered into the appropriate data field.

The flight libraries that once weighed down flightdecks and pilots’ nav-bags have also been vanquished. An entire suite of company manuals is at the fingertips in an iPad. Similar to the performance manuals, each crewmember doesn’t need to wait their turn to review a particular point of procedure and the entire crew can actually read the passage in unison. The old catch-cry of “Don’t lose the page!” has also been made obsolete by the search function within the manuals.

Efficiency has also been improved by the ability to submit forms online through the iPad. From Air Safety Incident Reports to internal flight crew reports and a range of forms in between can be completed off-line and submitted at the next convenient time. The need to obtain the appropriate paper form and subsequently post or fax it to the relevant department has been replaced by a time-efficient transfer of information. Events as varied as bird strikes and logging autolands topassenger delays can be processed within hours of the event.

For the iPad, navigation charts, performance manuals and the flight library are undoubtedly the big ticket savings in flightdeck efficiency. Beyond these everyday applications there are a good many uses that filter through both official channels and personal taste. Logically, Qantas provides access to its various flight operations websites and rostering facilities. The Bureau of Meteorology provides a tremendous app with a wealth of information, while on a small scale there is a fuel check app that allows calculation and confirmation of fuel uplift, complete with a change in font colour for out-of-tolerance scenarios. Care must always be taken with data entry and ensuring gross error checks, but this issueexisted equally with a digital calculator and even a pen and paper.

Planning ahead

The face of flightplanning has also changed with the advent of the iPad. The need for preflight delivery of a single flightplan at a central point has gone with each crew member now receiving a digital copy. That flightplan with associated Notices to Airmen and weather charts can be accessed in the crew bus if they choose.

The face-to-face interaction with briefing office personnel is missed by those of us who came to appreciate the personal touch, although a phone call can still be made. Undoubtedly there is a new generation of flight-crews coming through who will know no other way. As in so many areas of aviation, technology is not just changing the process, it is changing the culture. Hard copies of flightplans are still routinely issued to international crews and can be easily accessed at any company printer or onboard via the ACARS system. The iPad offers an option in the case of flightplans and a means of early access to planning information. The electronic format also offers more of the bells and whistles of highlighting, magnifying, bookmarking and notation than could ever be achieved by a marker and a dog-eared page.

Situational awareness

One of the constant challenges in operating an aircraft is the maintenance of situational awareness. ‘SA’ is the understanding of the current state of your aeroplane with an ability to be able to anticipate future changes and developments. Where am I and where am I going? To achieve this, a crew needs to look beyond their own situation and gather information from the dynamic environment that surrounds them. The iPad has provided a means of efficiently harvesting some of this data.

In a purely geographic sense, the presentation of the aircraft’s present position overlaid onto digital charts offers a number of advantages. The ability to track an aircraft’s position on taxiways is a particular advantage when visibility is low or the airport is unfamiliar and an incursion of a runway is a real threat. In the air there is an appreciation of the relative location of restricted airspace, control steps, other air routes and other aircraft by default. All of these elements provide detail to the mental picture a pilot seeks to form in the act of developing situational awareness. True, there are modern aircraft that have some of these options hard-wired into their avionics package. However, the iPad has brought these advantages to aircraft where such a retrofit is not an option.

TheBeyond the overlay on the digital Jeppesen charts, there are other iPad functions that can assist in situational awareness even before the aircraft leaves the ground. Weather radar loops can paint a picture of developing weather more quickly than forecasts can be issued, particularly in the case of thunderstorms. In a commercial sense, flight radar apps allow pilots to ascertain the position of connecting flights inbound and at their destination and plan a flight strategy to best protect schedule integrity.

Even simple applications such as the display of visual flight charts allow prompt answers to those curly questions from passengers about “Where are we now?” The answer of 223 miles GPS and bearing 040 is rarely satisfactory. Every day it seems that a new aviation app is born and the wheat is quickly sorted out from the chaff by those in the know. Yet bit by bit, each of those useful applications can contribute to the bigger picture of situational awareness.

Moving forward

In any field of endeavour, change must be embraced with equal measures of respect and enthusiasm. As much as technology can open a wealth of new doors, there will always be old ways that need to be maintained and in some cases adapted. This is an important aspect of implementation to ensure that safeguards are preserved in the face of change.

Just as when the information was presented in ink on paper, the same core checks are required. Is the data that is presented applicable to the correct aeroplane? Is the manual or chart the latest issue available? Fortunately, the iPad also allows electronic updates instantaneously wherever there is a 3G connection and the need for a volume of manuals to be expressed to an aeroplane is no more. The manner in which information is managed must also be appropriate. As mentioned, crews must still combine to cross-check and verify their performance calculations. Similarly, they must maintain the human interaction during briefing and not become too ‘head down’ on the iPad like a teenager that’s wired for sound. Crew communication always remains a vital aspect of any flight operation.

The carriage of individual iPads by each crew member with spare batteries and flightdeck power outlets also offers a sound level of redundancy. However, items such as the QRH (Quick Reference Handbook) will always be found on the flightdeck. The critical emergency actions and limitations contained within their pages require paper for both absolute reliability and the functionality of their format.

The iPad has introduced a new era to aspects of flightdeck management that has seen change embraced across the range of Qantas fleets. It has made it possible to provide the most up-to-date 21st century apps to some airframes that were designed in the 1960s. And while each fleet will have the nuances of Airbus or Boeing in certain applications, the operational philosophy is consistent across the range of aircraft.

Sometimes change can be slow and difficult, but the introduction of the iPad within Qantas was relatively painless and it is now well-entrenched and supported by flightcrews. The advantages are evident in day-to-day operations and continue to increase in number as the scope of the iPad’s applications increases.

New technology can provide unique challenges, particularly in aviation. However, such progress is part and parcel of this industry and always has been. Through embracing new developments such as the iPad, efficiency will continue to improve and aviation will keep moving forward.