Apple iPad App Error Delays American Airlines Flights; American Airlines Blames A Faulty Third Party App

A glitch in the software running on the American Airlines’ pilot’s iPad had delayed 24 flights on April 28 and another 50 flights on April 29. The airlines resolved the issue on April 29, according to reports.

According to a report on CNN Money, the digital map used by pilots in the cockpit had encountered an error. American Airlines issued a statement saying, "Some flights are experiencing an issue with a software application on pilot iPads,” quoted CNN Money. Andrea Huguely, American Airlines’ spokesperson said, of the Airlines’ 6,700 daily flights, 74 flights were affected, mentions the CNN Money report.

As per a ZDNet report, in 2013, American Airlines became the first airline to get Apple iPads and mobile software from Jeppesen for its pilots. The deployment of the technologies was smooth and no issues were reported for over two years, ZDNet reported.

American Airlines pilots depend on iPads for flight plans and navigation and since the plan gets updated every time, the company reduces its usage of paper, CNN Money reported. As estimated by American Airlines, the idea of going paperless let the company save about 400,000 gallons of fuel each year, states CNN Money report.

According to a report on Tech Times, The issue was first brought out by a passenger named Bill Jacaruso, who was travelling by one of the flights of American Airlines from Dallas to Austin, where he lived with his wife and beagle. The flight was supposed to take off at 8.20 pm (Central time) but it did not. The pilot then informed the passengers over the intercom that his co-pilot’s iPad had stopped working and after few minutes, the pilot’s iPad got defunct. After an hour, the pilot informed the passengers that all airplanes of American Airlines that were equipped with iPads were affected, as reported by Tech Times.

American Airlines did not blame Apple for the glitch, it blamed a defective third party app, reports CNN Money.

Besides American Airlines, other airlines that have replaced the paper manuals and physical charts with tablets include United Airlines and Delta, according to a BBC News report. British Airways and Ryanair are in the process of moving to the Electronic Flight Bag-based systems, reports BBC news.

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