Aircrews use tablets as ‘electronic flight bag’ - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Aircrews use tablets as ‘electronic flight bag’

The flight bag jammed with maps, performance logs, operations manuals and more is a thing of the past for a growing number of airmen.

Now, they carry tablet computers that can explain how to repair a part, show what route to fly and provide a little stress relief with a game of “Angry Birds.”

Air Mobility Command is taking the lead on tablets, using a variety to help lighten the load of aircrews. No more heavy manuals for maintainers to lug around or mounds of paper for pilots to sift through.

Aside from its light weight and portability, the “electronic flight bag,” as AMC is calling its tablet program, has the potential to save millions of dollars — from reducing printing expenses to decreasing weight on flights. The computers could go forcewide if they continue to be as reliable and cost-effective as they have been in the early phases of testing.

AMC’s program is the Air Force’s first instance of using tablets for official purposes, but countless airmen are buying tablets with their own money to make work a bit easier.

Lt. Gen. Darrell Jones, deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services, opted for an Apple iPad, which he uses as an e-reader, said Maj. Joel Harper, an Air Force spokesman. The slim tablet, which weighs less than 2 pounds, saves Jones from carrying around several hard-copy notebooks; it is not connected to an Air Force network, Harper said.

The Air Force, though, isn’t the only service hot on tablets.

Marine pilots are using the iPad to replace flight documents during missions in Afghanistan. The Army is looking at tablets and smartphones to help Army medics treat injured soldiers. The Veterans Affairs Department has connected 1,000 iPads to its network. The Federal Aviation Administration earlier this summer authorized commercial and charter carriers to use a tablet in the cockpit, replacing up to 40 pounds of manuals in the flight bag.

“You can save space, weight and have a better user interface” using tablets, said Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group, which provides aerospace and defense market analysis. “But there are some concerns about a backup plan. There’s nothing like paper when it comes to reliability.”

Cost cutters

The electronic flight bag pilot program began two years ago, and the first phase of testing finished in August. Another round of pilot testing will last through March. AMC plans a third round of evaluation, but the details haven’t been determined because officials need to evaluate the results from the first two phases, said AMC spokeswoman Capt. Kathleen Ferrero.

The content of the third phase will vary for each airframe, she said.

The tablets could slash expenses and free airmen from spending hours on paperwork.

AMC conducted a cost analysis in December and discovered that digitizing the content of flight bags could save millions in printing and fuel costs, and plenty of time by speeding up routine administrative tasks.

“AMC aircrews fly worldwide missions, requiring them to have access to information publications both on and off the aircraft as well as immediate access to various publications throughout all phases of flight,” Ferrero said in written responses to questions from Air Force Times. “Converting these publications from a paper-based system to an electronically based system can save time and money. Also, numerous publications being hauled in flight bags add weight on each mission, so Electronic Flight Bags can help increase fuel efficiency by decreasing weight.”

Air Force Space Command, which oversees cyber operations, has made 63 iPads available for AMC to test — but a spokesman stressed the “Air Force is not specifically or solely interested in the iPad.”

“Rather, the iPad is one of many that have both functional and operational benefits that new and emerging mobile device technologies bring to the table that are important to the Air Force,” wrote Andy Rourke, spokesman for Space Command. “Increased mobility is needed and we are working with multiple vendors to evaluate certified devices for use.”

Among the selection criteria: user-friendliness, reliability, cockpit ergonomics, portability, multitasking capabilities, security, modifiable display orientation, length of battery life, glare reflection and backup power source options.

AMC might eventually decide to purchase a mix of tablets that “provides the most effective solution for Air Mobility Command,” Ferrero wrote.

Apple appears to have an early advantage. The iPad is the only commercial, off-the-shelf device cleared by both the Air Force and the FAA. The Aeronautical Systems Center’s Engineering Avionics Division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, tested the tablets in November for electromagnetic interference and cleared their use on all fixed-wing aircraft, according to contracting documents.

AMC declined several requests from Air Force Times to interview aircrew members involved in the pilot testing. In July, The New York Times reported that pilots loved their iPads.

“The iPad allows pilots to quickly and nimbly access information,” one pilot for Alaska Airlines told the newspaper. “When you need to a make a decision in the cockpit, three to four minutes fumbling with paper is an eternity.”

Security concerns

Tablets are commercial products, which would keep the Air Force from sinking millions of research dollars into developing a device, but they also don’t have the service’s stringent security requirements.

“Many of these devices do not employ, or are yet to be certified as having properly implemented key features such as data at rest encryption, complex passwords, support for Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and [Common Access Cards] for access control, or virtual private networks,” Rourke wrote. “Additionally devices built for the consumer market typically do not have support for centralized management, which is key to our ability to securely manage a remote workforce. These capabilities are all essential to the AF conducting its activities securely and efficiently.”

The service evaluates each tablet against the Defense Department’s Security Technical Implementation Guides. The guides for iPads and mobile devices are still under development, but the Pentagon released a memo in April that listed six major security challenges that tablets present: enterprise management; data protection; access control; DoD Public Key Infrastructure credentials; software and applications; and training.

None of the iPads being tested by AMC is connected to the Air Force network; documents are transferred from another computer onto the tablets, which are used as e-readers. An airman can’t check his work email or access classified or any information for official use only.

The Air Force is looking at “a number of mobile device technologies” for accessing classified information, but no decisions have yet been made. The service is also working with the Army, the Defense Department and the commercial industry to develop a reader for CACs.

Industry is also working to fill another void: Ensuring delivery of critical documents to each tablet. The iPad’s operating system isn’t designed to allow a host server to push the documents onto each tablet, but technology officials will want to track that the proper documents have been downloaded for each tablet.

“It’s true not just in the cockpit but also in health care and other industries,” said David Yeaple, chief technology officer of Odyssey Software, a New York-based company that specializes in mobile device management.

The FAA has concerns about theft of government data, forcing information and security officials to find secure ways to use the tablets. Software embedded in the technology can allow administrators to remotely wipe a device clean of all government data, control what employees download, and separate personal email and Internet browsing from government business.

FAA Chief Information Officer Dave Bowen has met with senior executives at Apple to hash out potential risks and security of the device. As early as September, the FAA could have an approved policy mandating security standards for the iPad before the tablets are in more FAA users’ hands.

The VA is also working the problem. It has also an Oct. 1 deadline for making tablet computers, likely to include the iPad, available for use on the department's network.

VA CIO Roger Baker said users will be able to view information through such VA applications as its electronic health record system VistA and from external sources, but the information cannot be stored on the device. Users must be authenticated before gaining access.

“VA is looking at the policies that have to be in place before turning the devices loose,” he said.

Staff writer Nicole Blake Johnson contributed to this report.