DGCA gives permission to access navigation charts, other data with hand-held devices. The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has given the go-ahead for pilots to have a lighter load on flight decks and in cabins. Bulky navigation charts, flying manuals and other data can now be accessed on personal electronic devices, like tablets, instead of paper. The regulator requires Indian aircraft to typically carry 12,000 sheets of paper, weighing about 85 kg, to chart the course during flights. “The use of tablets will help save airlines close to 16 million sheets of paper a year, besides helping them reduce weight and save on fuel,” said a senior DGCA official. Known as an electronic flight bag (EFB), it is made up of a personal electronic device (PED) loaded with software. It acts as an information management device that displays data intended primarily for flight-deck or cabin use. Captain Rajeev Gupta, flight operations inspector (FOI), DGCA, issued a circular to all airlines in the matter. “Much of it (the documentation) is now available in electronic format, and data — along with company procedures that keep getting updated — may also be made available to flight or cabin crew electronically,” he said. DGCA Chief Mr Prabhat Kumar said, “The benefits of using EFBs are immense. There will be a drastic reduction in the use of paper, usually running into thousands of sheets. There will be a reduction in the use of jet fuel, on account of weight reduction. More accurately, less fuel will be used during take-off and landing. In turn, this will bring down emissions. Pilots no longer need to lug 20kg of paper manuals from aircraft to aircraft and airport to airport, flipping through pages. The data will be streamlined for easy searching.” While American carriers, like United and Delta, have been using EFBs since 2011 and 2013, respectively, in Asia the only country to allow pilots to use electronic gadgets for flight-deck use is Sri Lankan Airlines. The airline’s pilots use iPads as the EFB. The DGCA, which along with airlines is studying the issue, has decided to permit the use of electronic devices not just for storing, retrieving and using information, but to also access applications using software for aircraft performance, or real-time data. Welcoming the transition, a member of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) said, “Pilots today access hundreds of documents to operate all the systems on aircraft — manuals, handbooks, regulatory information, flight plans, passenger lists. All this will now be available on a handheld device.”
Source: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/
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