If you know me, you know I'm not in the mood to give "The Company" an inch until they get serious about negotiating our contract. That said, I don't believe LIDO is a contract issue.
I participated in the very first round of testing of EFB (Electronic Flight Bag) products, and we used both LIDO and Jeppesen products. In the EFB application, the LIDO product was far, far superior. Even with the difficulties encountered by not having ever laid eyes on LIDO before, it was FAR easier to use their product on a touchscreen tablet in the cockpit. The graphics were far easier to read, the interface was much more intuitive, and the cockpit workload was considerably less. It was clear even at that stage that LIDO had a product designed to be used on a computer, while Jeppesen had nothing more than a memory- and processor-hungry "viewer."
It is my opinion that LIDO was chosen due to its superiority over the Jeppesen EFB product. Even if it cost three times as much as Jeppesen (I doubt it does), it would be worth it.
Now, the hitch is the interim time between paper Jepps and Electronic LIDO. That's where we find ourselves learning how to use paper LIDO. Although it is a painful process, I don't think it's a scheme to hang up contract negotiations.
Coming from the Air Force, I never received formal training on "Jepps," yet I was expected to know how to use them. Many of us have transitioned from one type of approach plates to another without formal training. We were basically thrown into that figurative deep end and expected to sink or swim. That we are now given formal training, and compensation for completing that training, is something that I find refreshing. I don't think this is the foot that we should be shooting.
My hat's off to Capt Grover Trask, the individual that is responsible for driving this project forward. When you finally get to use the EFB, you should appreciate all his hard work in making this happen.
Do the CBT!
- The truth only hurts if it should -