Alaska Airlines Ditches Paper for iPads

By John Rossi :: 12:50 AM

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines has announced that they will outfit all of its pilots with Apple iPads by mid-June. Alaska is the first  airline to replace traditional paper manuals and flight operation guides with electronic document readers.

Gary Beck, Alaska Airlines’ vice president of flight operations says, “We’ve been exploring the idea of an electronic flight bag for several years, but never found a device we really liked. When the iPad hit the market, we took one look at it and said this is the perfect fit.”

The iPads will be loaded with an application called GoodReader, which will have PDF versions of over 40 flight systems and performance manuals, reference cards and other flight-related materials. The airline claims that the electronic flight documentation will save over 2 million pieces of paper.

In addition to the paper savings, the airline anticipates there will be “fewer back and muscle injuries caused by pilots carrying flight bags that can tip the scales at 50 pounds or more fully loaded.”

Although the iPads will be located in the cockpit, the pilots will have to stow them during takeoff and landings, just like their passengers are required to do.