Well sailing, that is what the guys were talking about a year ago. It is not front burner now with the merger.

As for the Jepps, most airlines pay a flat fee for their jeps. If we had ship sets and that was it, it would be the same fee. The previous carrier I worked for had the same deal. The cost is based on the amount of pilots the carrier has.

 

Yeah ACL. But that cost just went up by 4000+ pilotos. Does it justify not making a large up front expense and enjoying the fruits later? Every time I stick my old pages into a garbage bag (of course I don't do it in flight ) I think about the costs to the company. Surely, in 2009, there has to be a better way?

 

Guys,

I was a purple guy when we started the change to EFB. LIDO provided a superior EFB product to Jepp in our opinion. The data base was more reliable and the graphics were far better in definition.

We were required by our POI to use the LIDO paper product for a year using fully maintained shipsets prior to implementing EFB....paperless cockpit.

Real estate can be a challenge to mount the EFB and we had to overcome the resistance to change, but the paper charts were color coded, larger, and very legible.

Cost for shipsets was cheaper than individual Jepp issues, never had to carry, or update a Jepp, and workman's comp claims for back injuries virtually disappeared.

I have zero juice at Delta, but if any of you movers and shakers would like more info, send me a PM.

Regards.....FD

 

As a former ER guy, I'd love to see an EFB. I was tired of having high altitude charts for the entire world, all 3" of them and both domestic and international charts in my poor bursting kit.

However, I think on the ER I'd preferred to see all of the aircraft equipped with GPS so I wouldn't have to be on a track in a 75ER with 0 offset and watch everyone pass a mile or so off our left side. I got passed a lot off my left with 0 offset. Something isn't right there. And every damn one of those planes should have satcom. Given the company won't do that, and I'm assuming it hasn't been done in the last few months, I doubt EFBs are of any concern.

Also, at Continental Express I know they also looked into it and found out that Jepp was not going to lower the price at all, EFB or paper was the same cost except for the fact you have to dump the money into the equipment so really your costs just go up enormously, not down. Just as ACL said. And FAA certification is a pain in the rear too. But oddly, I have seen the FAA allow operations to have a printer in the airplane, didn't even have to be in the cabin, and you just print the charts you need. If you need something else, like on a divert, you just go print those in the back of the plane. Idiotic? Yes. FAA approved? Yes. I think we should do that, and put the printer on the 88 and 9 by the gear periscope.

Also, NWA pilots weren't flying around without charts pre merger, they had charts too. The cost in Jepps for old Delta to new Delta should be about the same.

 

Actually, dot matrix printers are very cost efficient. You can use REALLY, REALLY cheap paper (IE newsprint) in them (which would typically jam a laser printer), they use a $0.49 ribbon instead of a $49.95 toner cartridge.

Lots of places still have a use for DM,and that's why they're still produced. Impact printers are the only ones that can do multi-part forms.

Newer isn't always better.

Nu

 

Well I think that NWA paid for Jepps too! There is a lot more to it than meets the eye. Some day, but not some day soon.

I agree there has to be a better, way, but this way the responsibility is on you and not the company.

 

Uh......Lido ( Lufthansa )......anyone?.......anyone?.....Buehler???

 

Sometimes not being on the exact same line as another airplane (even if due to nav inaccuracy) can be a blessing. Big Sky theory kind of went away with GPS on the tracks. I never really enjoy going beak to beak with a 747 over the middle of the ocean - seems silly. Thousands of miles of oceanic airspace and here we are, fuselages aligned exactly in the horizontal, and separated vertically by a 1000 feet. But at least, without anyone watching on radar, we have a trusty HF radio to confirm the altitude clearance. What could possibly go wrong?