Improved safety, operational effectiveness and efficiency are a few reasons Air Force Air Mobility Command (AMC) officials are looking into using tablet devices such as electronic flight bags (EFBs) for aircrew members’ reference materials in the cockpit during in-flight emergencies.
The Mobility Air Forces fleet's required flying charts are updated every 28 days. This equates to approximately 70 pounds of paper per aircraft each month that must be meticulously sorted, accounted for, and updated. Accomplishing this one publication at a time requires considerable manpower and detracts from higher-priority tasks.
Additionally, each crewmember's flight bag contains required technical orders, flight manuals, regulations, and various other flight-related materials that add weight, burning fuel on each mission. With air mobility's rigorous operations tempo, the elimination of 70 pounds of paper on each mission over time could add up to serious fuel savings. Another likely benefit is the reduction of flight publication printing and distribution costs.
If test results reveal that an electronic flight publication system would enhance operational effectiveness and prove cost-effective, then AMC's next step would be to seek an EFB device that best fits mission requirements. The AMC has been looking at tablet and mobile devices for several years as possible tools for increasing mission productivity, decreasing office automation costs, and achieving other potential benefits such as portability and flexibility.
