United Airlines ditches paper for iPads in the cockpit

United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) is ditching all that paper in the cockpit and replacing flight manuals and aeronautical navigational charts with electronic versions on Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPads. The airline has ordered 11,000 iPads that it plans to put in the hands of all United and Continental pilots.
The company began distributing the devices earlier this month and plans to equip its entire pilot workforce by the end of the year.
“The paperless flight deck represents the next generation of flying,” Fred Abbott, United’s SVP of flight operations, said in a prepared statement. “The introduction of iPads ensures our pilots have essential and real-time information at their fingertips at all times throughout the flight.”
The airline says the move will save 16 million sheets of paper and 326,000 gallons of jet fuel every year. Each 1.5 pound iPad will replace approximately 38 pounds, or 12,000 sheets of paper operating manuals, navigation charts, refernce handbooks, flight checklists, logbooks and weather information in a pilot’s flight bag.