Delta Airlines to Give Pilots Microsoft Surface 2 Tablets
Delta Air Lines announced on Monday that it is equipping 11,000 pilots with Microsoft's new Surface 2 tablet. Initially these will be used as an electronic flight bag to replace the traditional 38 pound paper-based version containing aircraft operating and reference manuals, and navigational charts. The company plans to roll out Surface 2 tablets to the entire fleet by the end of 2014.
Delta said that Microsoft's new Tegra 4-based Surface 2 tablet, launching with Windows 8.1 RT, will be equipped with Jeppesen's FliteDeck Pro interactive application built specifically for the Windows platform. Delta said this app will provide quicker and more efficient access to thousands of pages of electronic documents, charts, navigational aids, checklists and other key reference materials previously kept in the heavy flight bags.
"Delivering digital flight information through FliteDeck Pro on the Surface tablet platform will increase situational awareness and improve operational efficiency for Delta Air Lines," said Tim Huegel, director, Jeppesen Aviation Portfolio Management. "This EFB integration program highlights a successful collaboration between Delta, Microsoft and Jeppesen and we congratulate Delta on the digital transformation of their flight deck operations."
Microsoft points out that the Windows RT 8.1 operating system will allow pilots to open two applications side-by-side, such as launching a weather app while viewing proposed flight paths in the other window. The Live Tile user interface will also feed up-to-the-minute information to crew members while the 1080p touchscreen display "adds detail" to maps and other resources.
"Once rolled out to the entire fleet, Delta will see an immediate fuel and cost savings as the cumbersome and heavy paper documents are removed from onboard our aircraft," reads Microsoft's blog on Technet. "In fact, the airline expects to eliminate the use of 7.5 million sheets of paper annually while reducing carbon emissions by 26 million pounds on 1.2 million fewer gallons of fuel."
Delta will begin handing tablets out to pilots flying Boeing 757 and Boeing 767 planes later this year for an extensive period of testing. After that, the FAA is expected to grant Delta an approval to use Microsoft's new tablet for all subsequent fleet types by the end of 2014. In the coming years, Delta plans to expand the functionality of the EFB equipment and "increase the efficiency of the operation by providing pilots with electronic dispatch and flight release information, access to real-time weather forecasts, up-to-the-minute operational information".
The Surface blog reports that there are already a number of businesses and institutions that use the Surface-brand tablets including Hokkoku Bank, City National Bank, The London School of Business & Finance and a number of others. And starting October 1, Surface will be available through commercial resellers in 29 markets including Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
The move to Surface 2 tablets follows Delta's shift in August to the Nokia Lumia 820 smartphones using Dynamics for Retail technology for 19,000 flight attendants.
;-)
Yeah... I've recently become a bit of a fanboy.
Heck, almost daily in classes and doing research I have someone comment on my "Surface" - which they oddly sometimes do when I'm using my Acer Iconia W700 too - and ask me how it is. A lot of people know what the Surface brand is now and when they go in to buy their next iPad, they may well give it a try. In virtue of it being a well designed product, wouldn't surprise me if more than a few brought them home. When I got my Surface - about a month after the price drop to $350 - the fellow who sold it to me told me they were selling their display case (about 40 units) out every three days. Hardly decisive market data, but I was surprised to hear that about a product which I'd heard next to nothing positive about on the web. And heck, my Surface isn't even the only one I see around the university...
I don't know if it will ever be a market leader, but I am getting early inklings that the Surface brand is growing, not shrinking. We'll see what the post-holiday sales numbers say.
It isn't simple like that... Not like between Microsoft and Netscape.... that was along time ago...
Now, you are talking about Apple, Google, and Amazon....If Microsoft wants to stay in the race... MS has to build solid, good, and better price to other competitors out there...
I teach classes and am reasonably computer savvy... But I know some academics who are now trying to use more digital formats for papers and articles they want students to read and a lot of them have tremendous trouble trying to work out technical kinks because one person can't get an article or you need accounts for this or that site or blah blah blah, and the first ten minutes of their classes turn into a troubleshooting session.
it will happen, but right now things are not dependable enough for this to really make it worthwhile in my eyes. A hidden fee is having tech support available to deal with tablet troubles in schools too, and schools are tight enough on budget as is.
the benefit to these is a faster search to the section that applies to your problem!
Syrian Electronic Army Hacks Delta Airlines Pilot Handbook - All Airplanes Crash Land on National Mall
Not likely, of course, but these devices do create another attack surface (no pun intended). If I were in charge of Delta, I'd be sure to find a way to lock these things down before I'd allow them in the cockpit. You know the pilots are going to let their kids play on them, and you know they're going to be used for non-work activities (hotel room p0rn during layovers?), no matter how stern the contract each pilot signs to get one.
Perhaps they should carry spares, just in case.
Dry
The fighter jock decides to poke some fun at the pilot who's forced to fly such an ungainly vessel.
"My plane's so much more advanced than yours. Watch this" says the jock, as he proceeds to do loop-de-loops, barrel rolls, corkscrews, and all manner of fast-paced aerial acrobatics.
"Very impressive," responds the cargo pilot. "But that's nothing, watch this." For a half hour the large craft simply plods along straight as an arrow, not even so much as dipping the wings.
After a while, the cargo pilot comes back on the radio and says "So, what'd you think?"
Jock: "What d'you mean? You didn't do anything. You just flew straight for a while."
Cargo: "Oh no, that wasn't all. I got up, stretched my legs, got some coffee, went to the bathroom..."