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Some American Airlines planes are grounded because the pilots’ iPads crashed

qz.com

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Re: Some American Airlines planes are grounded because the pilots’ iPads crashed

#21

Post by jagermo »

learnstats2 wrote: post #7

I understood it was illegal to depend on electronic equipment in the air?

I think that is for passengers during the critical phases (takeoff/landing) so that they are not distracted.

A few airlines have switched over to digital maps for airports, since they offer some substantial advantages (less weight, more up to date, etc).

If you want to have a look at one of these apps, its on the public app store (https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/lido-iroutemanual-aeronautic...) - though I could not find a source that AA is using the LH Systems app (and if it was the source of the problem, I guess there would be several more stories about it.

edit: Source: did some work for LH Systems, but not affiliated with them.

Re: Some American Airlines planes are grounded because the pilots’ iPads crashed

#22

Post by SixSigma »

lo_fye wrote: post #18

"The issue was centered around an update that was pushed 4 days ago" - that's an app bug, not an iPad bug.

> The pilot came on and said that his first mate’s iPad powered down unexpectedly, and his had too, and that the entire 737 fleet on American had experienced the same behavior.

user mode programs causing power down is not an app bug

Re: Some American Airlines planes are grounded because the pilots’ iPads crashed

#24

Post by raverbashing »

SixSigma wrote: post #22
lo_fye wrote: post #18

"The issue was centered around an update that was pushed 4 days ago" - that's an app bug, not an iPad bug.

> The pilot came on and said that his first mate’s iPad powered down unexpectedly, and his had too, and that the entire 737 fleet on American had experienced the same behavior. user mode programs causing power down is not an app bug

"Going blank" is different from "Power down" (I suspect iPads are very rarely, if not never, powered down 100%)

Of course, from the point of view of "can't be used" it is the same.

Now, why would Jepessen be doing something "funny" and powering down iPads is the answer I want to hear.

Re: Some American Airlines planes are grounded because the pilots’ iPads crashed

#25

Post by pmelendez »

userbinator wrote: post #17
stefantalpalaru wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> all that weight A few hundred grams? A few Kg?

According to the link in the article: http://hub.aa.com/en/nr/pressrelease/american-airlines-compl... 35 pounds , or around 16kg. That is rather heavy... I'm thinking that they should not all carry iPads, but have one iPad and one other device from a different manufacturer running different software but with the same information, for redundancy purposes. The weight of carrying an iPad and backup device is still tiny…

> , but have one iPad and one other device from a different manufacturer running different software

Exactly my thoughts. I am surprised they didn't have any contingency plan as backup.

Re: Some American Airlines planes are grounded because the pilots’ iPads crashed

#26

Post by pmelendez »

acd wrote: post #23

My iPAD and iPhone also crashes frequently since iOS 8.2+ They totally hang and then you need to reboot it by holding power and home. I'm switching to Android.

> I'm switching to Android.

That situation is not that much better on Android either.

Re: Some American Airlines planes are grounded because the pilots’ iPads crashed

#27

Post by Kurtz79 »

acd wrote: post #23

My iPAD and iPhone also crashes frequently since iOS 8.2+ They totally hang and then you need to reboot it by holding power and home. I'm switching to Android.

My anecdotal evidence against yours, I haven't experienced a single crash on my iPad(s) in three years.

Re: Some American Airlines planes are grounded because the pilots’ iPads crashed

#28

Post by joezydeco »

stefantalpalaru wrote: post #14
nomercy400 wrote: post #6

Don't forget about the savings for American Airlines. No more paper maintenance manuals, saving lots of weight, on every flight. The ipad powering down will probably result in a claim to the supplier of the ipads. Of course it is embarrassing, but think of the environmental benefits of saving all that weight.

> all that weight A few hundred grams? A few Kg?

American once boasted they saved $40,000 in fuel costs a year by deleting an olive from the salads in the passenger meals.

Re: Some American Airlines planes are grounded because the pilots’ iPads crashed

#29

Post by Osmium »

userbinator wrote: post #17
stefantalpalaru wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> all that weight A few hundred grams? A few Kg?

According to the link in the article: http://hub.aa.com/en/nr/pressrelease/american-airlines-compl... 35 pounds , or around 16kg. That is rather heavy... I'm thinking that they should not all carry iPads, but have one iPad and one other device from a different manufacturer running different software but with the same information, for redundancy purposes. The weight of carrying an iPad and backup device is still tiny…

> and one other device from a different manufacturer running different software but with the same information, for redundancy purposes

This sounds like a great idea in theory, but as far as I know in practice isn't ideal. Problems include less familiarity with the second system/more training time required, issues with the second system may not be discovered since it's used less, and less incentive to get the first system right in the first place.

What would perhaps be better is a backup running a previous software version, maybe.

Re: Some American Airlines planes are grounded because the pilots’ iPads crashed

#30

Post by manarth »

jagermo wrote: post #21
learnstats2 wrote: post #7

I understood it was illegal to depend on electronic equipment in the air?

I think that is for passengers during the critical phases (takeoff/landing) so that they are not distracted. A few airlines have switched over to digital maps for airports, since they offer some substantial advantages (less weight, more up to date, etc). If you want to have a look at one of these apps, its on the public app store ( https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/lido-iroutemanual-aeronautic... ) - though I could not…

FAA permitted "PED" use (Personal Electronic Devices) for passengers from late 2013: http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?cid=TW...

Other countries are slowly following suit.

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