The FAA gives approval for the airline to be the first commercial carrier to toss out its paper-based flight manuals in lieu of iPads — saving the airline $1.2 million in gas costs.

by Dara Kerr

American Airlines will be the first commercial carrier to have all of its pilots replace their paper-based reference flying manuals with Apple’s iPad.

The airline announced today that it received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to “to use the Apple iPad in the cockpit during all phases of flight.”

All pilots fly with a kitbag that contains necessary flight information, navigation charts, and reference materials for when they’re in the air. American is dubbing its new kitbag with the iPad an “Electronic Flight Bag.” Switching from paper manuals to the iPad will save the airline $1.2 million in fuel, since the iPad is so much lighter than the 35-pound kitbag previously used by its pilots.

Source >>