FAA Approves iPad For American Airlines Cockpit Use. Replaces Traditional Paper Manual

American Airlines has been approved by the FAA to use Apple iPad in cockpits to navigate maps. This initiative is believed to help the airline save about $1 million per year. The very first officially iPad flight will take off this Friday aboard a B-777 aircraft being fully FAA approved to use iPads on all flight phases, as digital flight manual readers and as electronic chart.

American Airlines will be the first to get authorization for its pilots to use the device during all phases of the flights. The first round of pilots from the American Airlines are all set to use the device, which is a replacement for traditional flight bags.

Both iPad and iPad 2 have been approved for use during all phases of the flight. Moreover, other airlines such as Alaska and United are also considering the use of the device. The iPad-based flight bags will allow cutting on weight by about 35 pounds compared to the traditional flight bag carrying all the essential documentation and manuals.

Seattle Pi reported that iPads weighing about 1.5 pounds will be replacing 35 pounds or more of paper. This will eventually save about $1.2 million worth of fuel, per year.