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Business & Tech

Local Company Brings iPad to Cockpit

N-Jet, based at Lake in the Hills Airport, became the first charter fleet operator to get the OK from the FAA to use the iPad in the cockpit.

The iPad has not only found a fan base in gamers, web browsers and Oprah, who called it her "favorite thing ever," but it has also become an essential device for a contingent of local pilots. 

While a lot of users may employ the Apple tablet to play Scrabble or read books, the 30 pilots of N-Jet, which charters airplanes and is based at the Lake in the Hills Airport, use the iPad to store navigational charts, company manuals and technical documents. 

A few weeks ago, the company was the first FAR (Federal Aviation Regulation) Part 135 fleet, which refers to charters and air taxis as opposed to commercial flight operators, whose proposal to use iPads in cockpits was accepted by the Federal Aviation Association, said N-Jet President and CEO Howard Seedorf.

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Why iPads?

Weighing 1.5 pounds, the iPads replace what used to be 100 pounds of paper in each of N-Jet's 10 airplanes, saving the company several thousand dollars in gas each year. 

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"The iPad is very intuitive and easy to use," said Seedorf, 61, of Lake Zurich. "It's lightweight and small, and to be able to use it for takeoff and landing, that's huge."

His son, Chad Seedorf, 34, of McHenry, who is N-Jet's lead pilot, added that the iPad "gets rid of all the books, helps with clutter and gives us more space to put the passengers and whatever they might bring on board." 

Increase Safety, Eliminate Potential for Mistakes

Aside from the cost savings, the father-son team said the iPad applications they use increase safety, as well, by eliminating the potential for human error.  

Applications for the iPad, like the Jeppesen app, updates charts and documents automatically. This means that N-Jet pilots don't need to worry, for example, about someone accidentally slipping a piece of paper in the wrong binder.

The Seedorfs said there interest in using the iPad began as soon as the device was relesaed last year. 

Howard said that N-Jet started the process for FAA acceptance of the iPad for what's referred to in aviation as an "electronic flight bag," or a device for storing charts and other documents, soon after that release.

iPad Acceptance Process

The Seedorfs had looked at other tablet computers like those by Fujitsu and Panasonic, Howard said, but "they were expensive, the battery life was short, and we found Windows cumbersome." 

So they started the iPad acceptance process – the OK by the FAA is company-specific and applies only to N-Jet – last summer and got the thumbs up in December. They are still on a six-month probation period before the iPads become a permanent part of the N-Jet fleet, whose 10 planes hold seven to 17 passengers each.

Already, though, each of N-Jet's 30 pilots has been equipped with a 16-gigabyte iPad that's capable of 3G. In flight, the pilots often strap it to one of their knees, like a clipboard. 

In every way, including fuel savings, usability, dependability, and increased safety, the Seedorfs say the iPad has brought them and their pilots nothing but benefits.

"I know we aren't the only ones going down this path," Seedorf said. "We just happened to be the first."

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