United Airlines is bringing its pilots into the digital age.
The Chicago-based international airlines announced Tuesday that it will replace its pilots' meaty flight manuals and chart books with Apple iPads.
Want to navigate a plane? Now there's an app for that. Apple's tablet computer will replace the 38 pound books United pilots used to carry with them on flights, according to a statement from the airline.
The iPad's will be pre-loaded with Mobile FliteDeck software app from Jeppesen, a Boeing subsidiary.
"The paperless flight deck represents the next generation of flying," Captain Fred Abbott, United's senior vice president of flight operations, said in a statement. "The introduction of iPads ensures our pilots have essential and real-time information at their fingertips at all times throughout the flight."
The switch to digital navigation will save 16 million sheets of paper and 326,000 gallons of jet fuel a year, according to the airline.
