iPads In The Cockpit? Airlines Should Consider iPad Rental

Heated debate is flaming up through American Airlines staff on whether or not pilots should use iPads in the cockpit of an airplane. With two valuable opinions on either side of the argument, the discussion has turned upside down with iPad rental and purchases becoming the new front of American Airlines’ future.

The prospect of using iPads and touch screen devices in an airplane prompted responses from other airline officials who want in on the debate.

“"It's a big worry. Consumer rubbish has no place in the cockpit. I'm a pilot - the cockpit is a place where everything is perfectly designed, perfectly reliable and responds immediately to commands, exactly as intended. The iPad is far from this." Said a supposed pilot from a different airline.

The common sense is there, there really isn’t anything wrong with our cockpit today, and regardless of the people with their flying-phobia it happens to be very safe. An iPad may be more efficient to have as a partner in the cockpit, but does it make it safe and is it necessary?

Efficiency is a useful tool, and in American Airlines they’ve already begun testing their iPads in the cockpit. It allows them to use charts that are light weight and easier to navigate than the traditional paper charts and locations. The iPad would allow for constant network updating of air traffic control, and emergency information that could provide extremely useful.

So it’s easier, less weight, less paper, less movement, an iPad would just be easier to use and more efficient. Is it really needed though, is the question that has gained the most opposition in this case.

Also, are iPads as reliable as these paper charts that will never run out of battery or lose a network connection due to faulty hard-wiring? The charts may be hard to look at and tough on the body and eyes, but they work and they’re safe. It might just be necessary to call in air traffic control for the emergency details, or for an update of air traffic, because an iPad rental might just be too much efficiency.