The potential perils of going paperless

We know we are living in an increasingly paperless world, but in a somewhat frightening example of the perils of software bugs, a faulty app caused American Airlines (AA) to ground dozens of its jets in the US late last month.

AA decided to go paperless a couple of years ago in an effort to save staff carrying paperwork (about 16 kilos' worth) onboard, which they estimated would additionally benefit the company through fuel cost savings totalling more than US$1 million a year. As part of the paperless strategy, co-pilots and pilots were issued with iPads in order to view their flight plans.

Trouble arose when a glitch in a third-party application used on the devices caused the iPad software to stop working. It was relatively simple to identify and address the problem, but not before hundreds of passengers were inconvenienced. It must be said, it's more than a little disconcerting that a software problem grounds planes so easily.

The fault was quickly traced to the duplication of an airport within the airline's chart database. The app was unable to resolve the duplicate, so it simply shut down. The fix was reportedly a simple matter of uninstalling and reinstalling.

While not exactly a life-or-death situation, it does highlight the need for a safety net in some scenarios. In this instance, pilots on flights travelling to or from the duplicated airport will use pdf file images of the chart until the app can be updated. When all else fails, they can get their hands on good old paper copies of the charts at the airport of departure.