Microsoft Surface 2 gets FAA authorization to be used to replace pilots' flight bag

Delta Airlines has been getting pretty close with Microsoft products in an effort to reduce paper-weight, and in the process go paperless. Last year, the air carrier placed an order for 11,000 Microsoft Surface 2 tablets.

The goal for that order is to replace the pilots’ flight bags, each weighing up to 40 pounds, filled with flight manuals, charts, and other airline documentation. Delta expects to save millions of dollars in fuel costs with the reduced weight across the fleet.

A Microsoft Surface 2 tablet weighs about a pound-and-a-half, so it is sure to be a hit with the pilots as well. This move follows Delta’s decision to equip the flight attendants with Nokia Lumia 820 smartphones to handle point-of-sale transactions and provide information to travelers.

Now that the FAA has provided Class 1 and 2 EFB (Electronic Flight Bag) certification, Delta is “all in” with Microsoft and Windows based platforms. Installed on the tablets is FliteDeck Pro, a logistics application developed by Jeppesen, a logistics company based in Denver, Colorado.

One cool product developed with this large-scale initiative is a new mount from RAM Mounting Systems, designed solely for the Microsoft Surface tablet and use in the cockpit of a plane. At nearly $200 per unit, the expectation is that it will work flawlessly. When you see a brief view of it in action in the video below though, it makes one want to see a consumer edition of the mount.



source: WPCentral