With the Federal Aviation Administration endorsing iPads in a test project at Executive Jet Management, a unit of Warren Buffett’s NetJets, the way is open for pilots at airlines and other commercial carriers to seek authorisation for the devices, said Les Dorr, an agency spokesman.
IPad use by professional pilots would support Apple’s goal of winning more business buyers. The company’s total corporate sales may rise 51% to $11.3 billion in 2011, said Brian Marshall, a Gleacher & Co analyst in San Francisco. Revenue was $76.3 billion last year. “This is mission-critical computing,” said Marshall, who has a “buy” rating on Cupertino, California-based Apple.
“For them to win this type of approval speaks volumes about the level of sophistication of what can be accomplished with the iPad.”
Charts showing data such as airports and radio frequencies for a state or region have been staples of US flying since the 1930s, when they replaced the road maps used by early aviators. With private pilots already able to use electronic navigation devices, the practice of following a pencil-on-paper route has been fading in recent years.
