It’s been just eight years since Apple’s iPad changed aviation forever, ushering in an era of portable electronic devices that can not only carry all the charts needed to fly anywhere in the world but also provide the ultimate in situational awareness with moving maps and AHRS-driven synthetic vision displays.
The landscape of the aviation app arena has changed dramatically over those eight years. What started as a simple alternative to paper charts has turned into full-blown electronic flight bag (EFB) apps that took the concept further than ever conceived and upended the traditional PC-based EFB market. At the same time, the tablet-based EFBs running Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, or Microsoft’s Windows operating systems are now the computers that flight crew carry to help run their operations. The number of applications or apps that run on these devices has also grown rapidly, and the choices for organizations and end-users has likewise expanded.
