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Delta Replacing Flight Manuals with Surface Tablets
Frosty Piss writes "Delta Air Lines plans to buy 11,000 Microsoft Surface 2 tablets for its pilots to replace the heavy bundles of books and maps they haul around now. Delta says the Surface tablets will save it $13 million per year in fuel and other costs. Right now, each pilot carries a 38-pound flight bag with manuals and maps. Other airlines, including American and United, have been buying Apple's iPad for that purpose. One reason Delta picked a Microsoft device was that it's easier to give pilots separate sections for company and personal use, said Steve Dickson, Delta's senior vice president for flight operations. Another reason for picking the Surface tablet is that Delta's training software also runs on the same Windows operating system as the tablets, reducing the need to redo that software for another device, Dickson said."
Ahh - well, the plane is a sealed metal tube, right? And the pad is in the sealed metal tube right? What else can we call a sealed metal container.... wait for it.... A Faraday cage. That's right kiddies, If a plane gets hit with lightening, it will charge the skin of the plane, but not induce a current inside of the plane - this is why existing electronics in planes aren't fried. Yes, they are flight qualified, but all the laptops that the punters have in the plane don't get fried, the entertainment system doesn't get fried - basically, lightning isn't a big worry. I'm much more worried about other lightening effects (surface damage, fuel ignition - pretty sorted by now, etc) Now let's talk about depressurization. A computer with rotational media (a hard drive, where air pressure helps float the heads off of the platter) would probably not be too happy about having the air pressure radically change, especially in the downward direction - something about heads plowing little furrows in the disk surface. Similarly, devices that move air to cool their electronics might get a bit warm with the fans blowing a lot less N2 molecules over the heat exchangers. Which of these systems does a pad have? Microsoft may be less than brilliant when it comes to many of their business activities, but I don't even think that Monkey Boy would sign off on a tablet that had either a hard drive or a fan for cooling. So, what's going to be killed by depressurization? If you say the LCD, I'll slap you (lightly) so you'll look up and see the glass cockpit staring you in the face. Better arguments, please.