OREANDA-NEWS. Rossiya Airlines, part of Aeroflot Group, became the first airlines in Russia to put Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) Class 2 based on Apple iPad into operation. This innovation is used during the entire flight and in will lead flight crews to work in accordance with the paperless cockpit concept the short-term.

Rossiya Airlines' parent company Aeroflot was the first carrier in Russia to put EFB Class 2 into operation. Rossiya Airlines in turn was the first to use Apple's multifunctional iPad. Unlike a number of airlines using tablets experimentally during horizontal flight in addition to paper-based reference material, Rossiya Airlines intends to introduce paperless cockpit technology during entire flight from takeoff to landing.

On the 4th February 2014, after gaining official approval of the aviation authorities of the Russian Federation, company has launched a project aimed to replace paper documentation with digital format. Airbus A320 Family aircraft were the first to be equipped with iPads. After a month of successful operating experience Boeing 767 fleet were also equipped with iPad mounts. Introduction of iPad as an Electronic Flight Bag was preceded by preparatory work including concept development and detailing processes of EFB installation and operation, creation and adoption of manuals, technologies and operating instructions, iPads and software purchasing, staff training, equipping aircraft with mounts etc.

Paper-based reference material will be replaced with digital format after gaining complete operating experience of EFB in real flight conditions. Sealed paper documents will be left in cockpits until the 4th August 2014 as a backup source of information. Each opening of the paper flight documentation is analyzed and corrective actions are developed.

Modern paperless cockpit concept allows company to achieve reduction in fuel consumption, reduce pilot workload, increase efficiency and most important is that it will improve flight safety.

EFB will replace pilot's traditional flight bag including Jeppesen manuals, Runway Analysis charts, FCOM and other operation manuals. Traditional flight bag is usually heavy (up to 70 kg) so replacement of paper documents will lead to fuel consumption reduction.

Now it's possible to perform take-off calculations using specially designed application. It will result in increasing payload, applying optimum engine mode that decrease fuel consumption and engine wear.

Flight safety will improve due to rapid data updates, easy access and processing of information during the flight. Huge amount of information including aeronautical charts, ICAO documents, maps, logbooks, operations manuals are now available at the pilots' fingertips.

According to Rossiya Airlines' chief of aeronautical information service department Yuriy Schepilov "The introduction of modern information technologies for the flight-crew is an important event for the airlines, which means achieving entirely new level of training and flight operations. The decision to use iPads instead of bulky and expensive specialized equipment allows this project to be as efficient as possible and opens up great prospects in the future".