1,000 Jet Airways pilots to use iPads for flight operations

Over 1,000 pilots of Jet Airways Boeing 737 fleet are all set to go digital, now that the aviation regulator DGCA has allowed the private airline to switch over to use of iPads instead printed documents in the cockpit for flight operations.

Currently, pilots are required to take numerous documents with them, including navigational charts, a flight operations manual, a minimum equipment list, among others, on each flight they operate as part of the DGCA regulations.

The iPads will come pre-loaded with documents and performance charts that pilots normally have to fill out as well as an on-board performance tool allowing them to gauge the aircraft’s operating parameters with extreme accuracy, Jet Airways said in a release.

Jet Airways has already trained 500 crew to operate the iPad as part of the first phase of the switch. The remaining pilots would be provided with the new electronic gadget in a phased manner over the next six to eight months, the airline said today.

The Mumbai-headquartered airline has over 1,000 pilots operating its narrow body B737 planes. The airline has 77 such planes in the fleet.

“With the introduction of the iPad, we are giving our pilots the tools to operate the aircraft more efficiently, safely and sustainably, all of which add up towards ensuring an even more exceptional flying experience for our guests,” Jet Airways senior vice president for operations Nikhil Ved said.

The airline will thus become one of the first domestic carriers to issue iPads to all its pilots across its Boeing 737 fleet, having received clearance from the DGCA, it said.

The airline’s wide-body B777-300ER planes already equipped with an ‘Electronic Flight Bag,’ which contains all the route maps, charts, aircraft manuals and associated paperwork in a digital format.

‘The iPad will have capabilities to offer up a precise calculation of the payload an aircraft is carrying, allowing crew to maximize the aircraft’s payload capacity, it said adding based on this success, the remaining fleet of Jet Airways would also be covered with iPads as Electronic Flight Bags (EFB) in a planned manner.