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US Air Force Buys iPads To Replace Flight Bags
redletterdave writes "Following the precedent set by commercial airliners, the U.S. Air Force plans to buy up to 18,000 iPads for its Air Mobility Command (AMC), replacing heavy flight bags with light and efficient Apple iPad 2s for the crews that fly cargo aircraft. The devices will reportedly be used by the crews on the C-5 Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster aircraft. There are several benefits to using electronic flight bags instead of physical versions. For one, the iPad can instantly update charts electronically, while the AMC would require flying charts get reprinted every 28 days to stay up-to-date. By cutting publication printing and distribution costs, and exchanging 70 pounds of paper for a 1.3-pound iPad, the Air Force can save some serious cash, including more than $1.2 million worth of fuel per year."
But printed charts and manuals don't have an 8-10 hour battery time ...
They should probably keep paper around, even if it isn't updated as often, as a backup.
It's going to suck to have nothing when your batteries die or the software fails.
$1.2M of fuel seems like a drop in the bucket for the amount of birds they keep in the air, and one falling out of it is worth far more.
Sent from my PDP-11
Since you really want to replace hard copies with something that runs on a battery, you could at least go for something that gives you at least access to, say, its file system. Or something for which you won't pay extra just for the logo.
You're missing the point, which is to plug Apple.
Have you actually gone through the military procurement system? They probably ordered these when the iPad (1) was announced.
I remember reading an article a while back by a retired USAF pilot where he wrote about the time spent making sure that all the manuals and other paperwork were up to date and the trouble he could get into if it wasn't when someone inspected the aircraft. So I'm guessing that could save more than $1.2 million dollars of aircrew time.
Well, I'm not an aircraft engineer (either ground or flight), but I really don't remember 120v 60hz AC service routinely available on most military aircraft I've flown in. The stuff I've seen is 120 Vac at 400hz or 28 Vdc. I suppose a multi-billion dollar program to retrofit all these AMC aircraft to include US household current on the flight decks of the current transport aircraft inventory wouldn't be all bad...
Like most other gadgets, the iPad can charge off of a USB port. That would be 5 Vdc.
In particular, any computer needs to be built in the west, with chips from the west, to be trusted.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
exactly. The west is destroying itself by trusting goods coming from China. Instead, the west's military should require that all electronic be secured by west manufacturing.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Really? Slashdot is going to argue over whether the military can figure out how to charge an iPad on a C-17? Really?