FAA approves replacing a pilot’s flight bag with the Surface Pro 3

[Brad]

In a follow-up to the Electronic Flight Bag topic, I give you this:

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/09/26/faa-approves-replacing-pilots-flight-bag-with-surface-pro-3/

Almost one year ago, Delta gave the go-ahead for its pilots' flight bags to be replaced by the Surface Pro 2, essentially turning the tablet into an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB). Fast-forward to today, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and its European counterpart, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), have given the go-ahead for the Surface Pro 3 to replace pilots' flight bags, Microsoft announced....

[Eclipse]

Well, that's great for the 12 guys who bought one of those.

Maybe they will approve Windows Mobile, too., and bring the total to around 20...

[Майор Хаткевич]

Wouldn't the airline buy these?

[PHall]

Wouldn't the airline buy these?

No. The airline will provide what is required by the FAA. Everything else is optional and comes out of the pilot's pocket.

[NIN]

No. The airline will provide what is required by the FAA. Everything else is optional and comes out of the pilot's pocket.

Actually, the airline *might* provide. A  friend is an FO with American. She has an iPad with all her pubs. So does the CA.  No more wheeling around huge pub bags and dinking around with making sure your pubs bag is up to date. 

Less weight in the cockpit.

[THRAWN]

No. The airline will provide what is required by the FAA. Everything else is optional and comes out of the pilot's pocket.

Actually, the airline *might* provide. A  friend is an FO with American. She has an iPad with all her pubs. So does the CA.  No more wheeling around huge pub bags and dinking around with making sure your pubs bag is up to date. 

Less weight in the cockpit.

Some do provide. I just inspected a carrier that, last year, had big piles of unused paper in their lockers. Now, that's not an issue. All of their pubs are electronic, and when an update comes down, it's automatically updated in their device.