A faulty app led to American Airlines grounding dozens on its jets earlier this week. The airline says it is still looking at what caused the glitch, which caused iPad software used by pilots and co-pilots to stop working. The app enables staff to view flight plans. The firm’s pilots went “paperless” two years ago in order to save its staff from needing to carry large amounts of documents on board. The airline hoped the change would save $1.2 million in fuel each year.
A spokesperson for the company said. “Some American Airlines flights experienced an issue with a software application on pilot iPads yesterday evening…In some cases, the flight had to return to the gate to access a Wi-Fi connection to fix the issue. We apologize for the inconvenience to our customers and we had them on the way to their destinations soon afterwards.”
Some passengers affected said the flights were only allowed to become airborne again after maps had been printed off. Other airlines have also gone “paperless”, including United Airlines, who adopted iPads some time ago. Delta chose Microsoft’s Surface tablet. Some airlines say switching to tablets means reduced flight preparation time, increases efficiency via real-time updates and reduces the likelihood of injuries.