More and more airlines are replacing heavy pilot manuals with tablets. The latest example is the ExpressJet regional airline, which has received approval from the FAA to use Microsoft's Surface 3 as its Electronic Flight Bag for nearly 4,000 pilots.
"By running Windows 10 on Surface devices, ExpressJet has seen improvements in safe decision-making, employee morale, and communication with team members. "Our job is to provide as seamless and as safe of an operation as we possibly can," said Greg Wooley, VP – Flight Operations at ExpressJet. "The Jeppesen Windows 10 EFB app allows our pilots to be an active manager of the operation – it's not just a replacement for paper, it's a platform for expansion."
In addition to saving pilots time in accessing information versus flipping through paper pages, the lower weight of the Surface 3 will cause ExpressJet to save fuel on their planes as well. The Surface 3 is already being used by pilots on another regional U.S. airline, SkyWest.
