iPads in the cockpit isn’t exactly news at this point.  Many large legacy carriers have issued them to their pilots to use as Electronic Flight Bags.  The iPads store current flight charts and display them electronically with better organization and that’s a good thing for pilots.  It can reduce the weight a pilot has to lug around by as much as 30lbs.

In fact, with two pilots per aircraft and a savings as much as 60lbs, that actually translates into money savings for airlines in the form of fuel.

The presence of iPads in the cockpit has also caused the consumer to believe that leaving their electronic devices turned on at all times is really OK.  It isn’t.

Pilots aren’t using WiFi in the cockpit.  In fact, they aren’t supposed to use WiFi in the cockpit at all.  That is turned off on the iPads.  And lest you believe that’s an overabundance of caution, you would be dead wrong.  There is enough data to show that unshielded use of cellphones and/or WiFi devices in or near the cockpit can affect flight displays or controls.

Delta is asking for a waiver to use their iPads’ WiFi in the cockpit to use a weather turbulence app as a test.  They contend that the wattage of the iPad’s WiFi is not enough to affect instrumentation on the Boeing 737.

Will we see connectivity in the cockpit?  Yes, I think we will.   The challenge here is that you can shield new instrumentation from the dangers of WiFi fairly easily but that means expensive replacements for equipment on legacy aircraft.  In other words, airlines aren’t going to do this until its time to refresh cockpits or buy new aircraft.  So expect to see this evolution take place literally over the next 2 decades.

Filed under: Airline Fleets by ajax
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