iPadomania in Business Aviation

The Apple epidemic is sweeping across the aviation world, and business aviation is no exception. It’s hard to call it a revolution, but some things are changing. Which way are we going?

Silverware
The iPad is a tool you use to consume information, much like you’d use a fork to consume food. Apple gadgets have already found their way into business jet cockpits, but a new step, and a qualitative one, was taken by the iPad tablet computer. This relatively new gadget has been all the hype on bizjets, with pilots using it in the cockpit, passengers looking for ways to keep it comfortable in the cabin, and operators, brokers, and OEMs using its capabilities to attract customers. So where and how is the iPad used in business aviation?

Make Yourself Comfortable

Photo: Flight Display Systems

The first solution that comes to mind is to integrate the iPad with the inflight entertainment system. It’s not too hard – set up necessary adaptors, tweak the electronics, and it’s done. Flight Display Systems had this idea when they made their iPad mount. It allows the user to keep the thing steady, charge it, and watch videos or read ePubs all at the same time. Remember the individual screens you got aboard a business jet? They would be stowed at the side of your chair. The new mount goes instead of those and uses the same connections.

Control and Rule

Photo: Gulfstream Aerospace

Using a gadget comfortably in the cabin is one thing, but using it as an addition to the onboard electronic systems is another. This is what the people from Duncan Aviation did – they made a special app that lets the passenger control the “iCabin”. Take out your iPad, launch the app – and you get shades, climate, light, and other controls at your fingertips. Gulfstream has created a similar app for its new G650. For now it’s compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch, but an iPad version is sure to follow.

The App Race
Business aviation doesn’t end right outside the airplane. The popularity of Apple products has made them an effective sales and marketing instrument for OEMs, operators, sales and charter brokers. There are branded apps for i-gadgets by Dassault Aviation, the charter broker Magellan Jets (based on the platform made by online charter marketplace Avinode), the fractional ownership operator Flight Options. The Russian TopAvia became one of the first to launch a branded app, too. The market isn’t booming yet, but new contestants keep entering the race. OEM brochures with videos and 3D-images shouldn’t take long coming, and with them other interesting and quite functional things will appear.

The iPad in the Right Seat

Photo: Avidyne

Many pilots find the 9.7” iPad screen just the right size to handle approach charts, manuals, weather maps, and checklists. Dozens of apps are available. The leading navigation solution provider Jeppesen identified this new trend early and offered Mobile TC – an app that allows subscribers to process data on the iPad. There are also interesting apps out there offered by smaller companies. It’s worth mentioning that the FAA has officially allowed the use of the iPad for the processing of flight information. It can only be used as a secondary device and there are limitations, but what’s important is the official recognition.

iConclusion
It’s hard to avoid progress and fashion. Should we even try in this case? The iPad takes us another step towards the most wanted direction: convenience, ease of use, efficiency. For many this gadget has become “a fork for information” and it’s no surprise it’s with us everywhere – on the couch, in the office, in the cabin and even the cockpit of a business jet. Be prepared: many bizav companies are bound to contact you from the other side of the touchscreen.