AviationToday.com: Dead Trees and EFBs

Digitization pervades all aspects of our lives, to the point where reality is defined by sequences of 1s and 0s. Anything that can be digitized inevitably becomes so. Consider the Product Focus in this issue of Avionics magazine: Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs).

As this article explains, innovations continue to reshape the EFB, an integrated electronic data management system that makes it easier and more efficient for flight crews to perform flight management tasks, with considerably less paper.

The EFB is a flexible computing platform designed to reduce or completely replace paper-based reference material, charts and check lists typically found in the pilot’s carry-on Flight Bag, including the Aircrew Operating Manual, Aircraft Operating Manual and navigational charts. EFBs can also host software that automates other functions conventionally performed by hand, such as take-off calculations.

The EFB derives its name from the pilot’s old-fashioned Flight Bag, which is a cumbersome and heavy documents pouch that pilots schlep to the cockpit. The EFB, which typically weighs only 1 to 5 pounds, replaces those "dead tree" documents with digital media. There are tremendous advantages in using EFBs and eliminating paper from the cockpit. They improve situational awareness and safety, reduce hours of flight planning and enhance cockpit efficiency. New technologies such as real-time satellite weather and icing data, with GPS integration, have further pushed the envelope of what EFBs can accomplish.

FAA divides Electronic Flight Bags into three hardware classes:

• Class 1: Basic commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment, such as laptops or personal electronic devices (PEDs). Deployed as loose equipment and usually stowed during critical flight phases.

• Class 2: Ranges from PEDs, to modified COTS, to purpose-built. They are typically mounted in the aircraft, with the display viewable to the pilot at all times during flight.

• Class 3: Avionics-quality "installed equipment" and subject to airworthiness requirements. Unlike PEDs, they fall under regulatory design control. Class 3 EFBs are typically installed under STC or other approvals.

FAA ruled Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 EFBs may serve as substitutes for the paperwork pilots are required to carry into the cockpit. The higher the class, the higher the capabilities incorporated into the EFB (and the higher the cost).

As this issue of Avionics makes clear, EFBs are taking off in popularity and capability. The market is booming, fueling a proliferation of innovations. If embedded with the right applications software, EFBs can expedite a gamut of communication, navigation and surveillance functions. That’s especially true in the growing business jet market, because weight and space are salient concerns in the cockpit. For high-end bizjets, EFB data presentations such as approach charts and uplinked weather can be integrated into the main front panel displays.

As with all industries, the trend is to replace paper processes with digital ones. The digitizing of aviation-related paperwork emerges as a topic in our latest podcast: "The Aircraft Restraint Market Today: How Repair and Refurb Centers Can Avoid Safety and Regulatory Perils." To listen, go to www.AviationToday.com.

EFB users are adding new applications to their devices. Real-time takeoff performance calculation is a prevalent use for EFBs, because it allows higher payloads and lower maintenance, directly boosting an operator’s bottom line.

The name of the game in maintenance, repair and overhaul is to "rationalize" processes. The consulting firm AeroStrategy reports the maintenance industry is more efficient today by at least 30 percent. Among the factors behind this is the application of "enabling technologies" such as EFBs that track maintenance. For more on how EFBs reduce maintenance costs, turn to our latest Webinar: "Aviation Maintenance: Trends That Will Affect Your 2007 Bottom Line," now archived on Aviation Today. Don’t worry: No trees were harmed in the making of this Webinar.

John Persinos is publisher and editorial director of AviationToday.com. You can reach him at: 301-385-7211, or jpersinos@accessintel.com