Avionics
E-charts’ acceptance is growing, even by FAA
As the FAA continues to wrestle with the issue of whether to allow portable electronic devices to be used for viewing approach charts during commercial IFR

As the FAA continues to wrestle with the issue of whether to allow portable electronic devices to be used for viewing approach charts during commercial IFR operations, pilots of Part 91 business jets who have been flying with the so-called electronic flight bag (EFB) computers for the past year are expressing generally favorable opinions of the devices.

Pilots who have flown with the computers say they like them because, at just over an inch thick, they are no bigger than a single Jeppesen binder, yet they have the capacity to store 30 or more binders on their hard drives. One pilot said his company’s Flite Guide 3500, a 500-MHz computer with a touchscreen and pen-like stylus from ADR Software in Auburn Hills, Mich., is mounted in the cockpit of the company’s Citation on a rigid ball joint, making it easy to operate even in turbulence.