Carrier to provide crews with Boeing Class 3 product
Express package specialist UPS has placed a major order for up to 115 Boeing Class 3 electronic flight bags (EFB), taking total commitments through the 400 mark after a surge in demand that has seen more orders placed in the first three months of 2006 than over the previous three years put together.
The UPS systems, which will be gradually installed in the airline’s 75 757s and 32 767s from the third quarter this year, will also be fitted to eight new 747-400Fs due for delivery from early 2007. The UPS EFBs are thought to be the first to be used to display ADS-B (automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast) data to the flightcrew. ADS-B, which relies on the satellite-based global positioning system, broadcasts the aircraft’s precise position via a digital datalink, along with other data including airspeed and altitude, to both ground controllers and other pilots with ADS-B equipped aircraft.
UPS plans to use the EFB to display an ADS-B application developed by Arizona-based ACSS called SafeRoute that provides flightcrews with an airport surface map and relative positions of local traffic.
Using software developed by Boeing and its subsidiary, Jeppesen, as well as hardware from Astronautics, the EFB electronically delivers navigation charts, manuals and documents. The system is also designed to provide improved communication between flightdeck crews and maintenance teams. UPS says it is also examining the use of EFBs for “flight maintenance log books, ground moving maps and weather maps, so we think this may open many doors”.
UPS is the first US operator of the EFB as well as the launch customer for the 757 and 767 applications. UPS says it is “looking at the system for the rest of its fleet in terms of the MD-11s as well as the other Airbus types [A300-600Fs and forthcoming A380-800Fs]. Since the EFB was launched by KLM in November 2002, Boeing has won orders for systems on 405 aircraft, including 186 retrofits.
GUY NORRIS / LOS ANGELES
Source: Flight International
