Sri Lankan airline swaps paper manuals for iPads
COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s national carrier announced on Wednesday it had jettisoned pilots’ bulky paper manuals weighing 84kg in favour of iPads that weigh just 660 grams.
Sri Lankan Airlines said it was the first carrier in Asia to dump the several volumes from the cockpit, including manuals on aircraft operation and emergency procedures as well as navigation charts.
“Sri Lankan has taken the lead in Asia to revolutionise the flight deck… becoming Asia’s first airline to fly with iPad EFBs (electronic flight bags),” chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe said.
Permission for the switch-over to lightweight technology was granted by Sri Lankan air safety regulators. The carrier, which made a loss of 19 billion rupees (S$428 million) last year, operates a fleet of 21 aircraft, including six A340s.
Source: AFP
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This is a disaster. The iPad’s capability will not be and cannot be utilised 100% in an aeroplane.
There are many other solutions including digital document readers which cost aroud US $15 in China/Hong Kong. Compared with the cost of an ipad at US $400, Airlanka’s solution stinks!
Hey Parana,
Lets not jump the gun. Lets wait and se. I think new sysytems are good compared to Parana systems but the question is why Sri Lanka Airways don’t find a solution to cut their losses before they go Hi Tech.