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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."
Here in AMC (Air Mobility Command, USAF) we use the iPad with an OtterBox case. Hope there is a tough case for the Surface, because even is a nice jet like the C-17, these things take a beating.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
... what could possibly go wrong?
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
Because I can't imagine them doing this any other wise. As pointed out else where, this is going to take 2 more years. $5.5 mil for iPads, or $13 mil in fuel savings per year. Hmm... Someone help me with the math here.
And in two years, once the Surface 2 gets certified, what happens? Delta is now flying with 2 year old technology... whoopie.
Considering the pilots fought to keep the iPads and didn't want Surface, there's more going on behind the scene here.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/09/30/delta-pilots-fought-against-deal-to-replace-ipad-flight-bags-with-microsoft-surface
Now MS has sold 11,023 tablets!
My understanding* is that many airlines are doing this, and the flight critical standard and emergency check-lists are still kept in hard copy. The material no longer on paper will be things like approach maps for a few hundred airports, and manuals for seldom-adjusted aircraft systems. Should such documents be required but unavailable due to misfunctioning tablets, air traffic controllers and the airline's dispatch centre would be able to assist by radio.
If there is a real pilot in the house, perhaps they could comment further.
* I am a non-pilot with an interest in aviation, so I try to follow such developments via internet news sites.
Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
hey, can't you see I'm RTFMing ?
Microsoft would have offered a very sweetheart deal pricewise for this.
From Delta's standpoint it would also have the advantage in that almost nothing runs on it, meaning that people aren't going to muck with it install crap software and malware on the Surface RT is all but unheard of. They also almost certainly would have offered some type of enterprise management tools for the tablets from MS.
Enterprise support for the Ipad is a royal pain at best and tools are quite limited. The app store is oblivious to the concept that a computer could be owned my a company instead of a person. Support issues go far beyond these and their IT department doubtless didn't want to deal with it.
I'm not endorsing the Surface RT and I've certainly gone on the record here about how it's a terrible tablet. I'm just explaining the logic behind the order. They certainly could have made a much better choice than the Surface RT.
Considering they bought the ARM version of the tablet, someone's going to be very disappointed (and probably in a lot of trouble) when they discover that it does not run the same operating system as their training software. At least not unless their training software only runs on an extremely limited number of low-power computers.
Good news is, Microsoft's deception campaign to trick people expecting to run Windows apps into buying their ARM OS is working.
In other words, think long and hard about having Steve Dickson make purchasing decisions for your company in the future....
I hope these work out a lot better than the Microsoft mobile scanners that we use on the ramp and in cargo to track bags/cargo. I'm 30 yards from the damn wireless transmitter and I lose signal at least once a day. Inside a giant warehouse. But yeah, I imagine they went with Microsoft tablets because most of the other computer systems Delta uses is Microsoft, so it streamlines things. However, over the past 6 months or so they have started to give out iPhones as company issued phones to managers and supervisors in the headquarters, but the ones on the ramp and other areas still use Blackberries.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
a (western airline) stewardess once told me that on long-haul or flights that have interesting destinations, the flight attendants with seniority get the assignment. thats why you see so many oldies on european/asian flights.
as the other reply to your message stated, asians dont play that game. they only hire young cute girls (and the occasional young guy for some reason -maybe to lift things) to staff the aisles and ticket counters, sometimes also the security gate. makes the occasional pat-down far more pleasant, and flying overall much more bearable.
New meaning for Blue screen of death in 3...2...1...