[NewsPoster]

[Updated with further explanation of issue following investigation] A software bug that is suddenly causing iPads, used as "electronic flight bags" (EFBs) by pilots for American Airlines, to shut down and become unresponsive is causing delays and groundings of "several dozen" flights on the airline as experts scramble to identify the issue. One passenger on one of today's affected flights, which was delayed for more than two hours, said that the pilot had claimed the entire 737 fleet on American was affected by the issue.

"The pilot came on and said that his first mate's iPad [had] powered down unexpectedly, and his had too, and that the entire 737 fleet on American had experienced the same behavior," said Philip McRell, a passenger on flight #1654, according to a report from Quartz. "It seemed unprecedented and very unfamiliar to the pilots."

American has since confirmed that "several dozen" flights were delayed by the problem, which appears to center around the Jeppesen Mobile Terminal Chart application used by American pilots. The software has been previously approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, and American has used the combination of iPads and the Jeppesen app successfully since 2013.

The 8,000 iPad-based EFBs have replaced the former paper-based flight bags saving the airline 24 million pages of documents in bags that weighed 35 pounds each. The change saved around 400,000 gallons of fuel (about $1.2 million worth) each year.

Update: An American Airlines representative has clarified what actually happened in a statement obtained by MacNN. The issues, which centered around the Jeppeson Mobile Terminal Chart app, was caused by an update pushed automatically to pilots' iPads that had an updated runway map for a specific airport -- Ronald Reagan Washington National -- that caused a conflict with existing versions of the app, causing the iPad to crash. "[The issue] was not a system-wide or a fleet-type problem," said spokesperson Casey Norton. The problem occurred only when pilots "accessed a particular map."

While Jeppeson works on a permanent fix, pilots have been told to delete and re-install the Jeppeson app, or rely on paper versions of that particular map, or view the updated runway map in a different application to work around the issue. The airline delayed some flights to investigate the issue, erring on the side of safety until the cause of the problem was determined.

[chimaera]

Automatic software update strikes again. A convenient service for mission-critical software.

[Grendelmon]

Stupid Jepp Chart app!

Originally Posted by NewsPoster 

The 8,000 iPad-based EFBs have replaced the former paper-based flight bags saving the airline 24 million pages of documents in bags that weighed 35 pounds each. The change saved around 400,000 gallons of fuel (about $1.2 million worth) each year.

And how much more is it costing the industry to keep all these iPads charged?

[Mike Wuerthele]

According to several sources, it costs about $1.50 per year to keep an iPad 2 charged. Let's double that to $3, assuming a daily charge, not every other day.

So,m $8000 * 3 = $24,000. For conservatism, we'll triple that.

That's still way less than the fuel savings.

[RDeckard]

Hi Mike, you beat me to it. According to the Electronic Power Research Institute (www.epri.com), it costs about $1.36 a year to charge an iPad 2 every other day for a year -- so your assumptions are right on the money.

iPad Air 2's have smaller batteries than iPad 2s (so they'd cost even less to charge if/when they start using those).

[Grendelmon]

Another cost that may not be apparent is even despite the fuel savings in AC weight, saving time and money by not having to produce and distribute FOM page update packs on a monthly basis. That is a TON of paper wasted. I really doubt that pilots carried 3,000 pages of documents with them, so the 24m number is probably the estimated page number over a year, including manual and chart updates.

[TheGreatButcher]

Given that aircraft generally generate more electricity than used, even the $24K in charge costs might be high.