Gadling goes hands-on with the iPad flight bag

Flight bags are going digital, and American Airlines is on the forefront of this move away from a paper-laden cockpit. American has approval to use the iPad in its 777, 737 and MD-80 airplanes and is starting to install the iPads in the cockpits of its MD-80 fleet. A recent segment in Gadling's Cockpit Chronicles series by Kent Wien takes a closer look at this iOS-driven setup.

Working with pilot manual company Jeppesen, American Airlines is loading up the devices with company manuals, Jeppesen flight manuals, Jeppesen approach plates and more. It is also equipping the iPads with Hypermac backup batteries for long flights and a RAM mount to secure the device in the cockpit.

You can check out the cockpit setup in the video below and then hop over to the Cockpit Chronicles article for additional details on the system and its long approval process, which includes, among other things, hypobaric chamber testing.

[Gadling is a sibling site of TUAW, as we are both part of AOL's network. –Ed.]