Laptops

[sidesaddle]

I think they media freaking out over laptops in the cockpit is a red herring and absurd. Perhaps they think it is the equivalent of someone driving down the road while texting (very bad idea in my opinion) but it is not even close. Is not an EFB basically a laptop? My four computer screens on a 550 have drop down menus and many functions. Just because I work on these or a laptop during cruise on a 12hr flight over the Pacific does not mean I will ignore ATC, fly past my destination or whatever.

We use laptops all the time during cruise and put them away when things get busy and for sure during the last 60-90 minutes of the flight. Anyone do the same or are we unusual?

 

[OurMoney1]

1 Lid open at a time and life is good.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

I think they media freaking out over laptops in the cockpit is a red herring and absurd. Perhaps they think it is the equivalent of someone driving down the road while texting (very bad idea in my opinion) but it is not even close. Is not an EFB basically a laptop? My four computer screens on a 550 have drop down menus and many functions. Just because I work on these or a laptop during cruise on a 12hr flight over the Pacific does not mean I will ignore ATC, fly past my destination or whatever.

We use laptops all the time during cruise and put them away when things get busy and for sure during the last 60-90 minutes of the flight. Anyone do the same or are we unusual?

Well, Im sure the NWA crew didnt think having laptops out would make them fly by their destination either....but it did....and they lost their tickets.

An EFB is flight related, and there's no need for 2 EFBs to be used at the same time. 2 laptops out playing around means nobody is minding the store.

I have never flown with anyone who broke out their personal laptop in the cockpit, even on 12+hr legs. I have heard from friends at the airlines that movie watching in the cockpit is not unusual - as they are locked away from the public. Were these guys THAT bored on a 3hr flight that they had to bust out laptops? (I believe their ops manual also specifically prohibited this?)

No place I have ever worked would have tolerated playing on laptops in the cockpit, or ipod usage, etc....If you need to rest/checkout for awhile - by all means, go into the rest area....watch a dvd, listen to some music, close your eyes...miss radio calls....thats what a rest area is for.

Yup, the media is freaking out as usual. As pilots we know the safety aspect is more debatable than the professional aspect...but that's irrelevant as these guys served this one up on a platter. There's simply no defense the public will ever buy for what they did.

Personally, I would have stuck to the "we both fell asleep" story.

 

[epic!]

coffee is next. guard your thermos's my friends

 

[AA717driver]

In my current situation, I am in favor of being able to use "a" laptop to connect to the internet for the purposes of communicating to dispatch and viewing real-time radar.

As it is, in the 757/767, the acars is ponderous when communicating to dispatch and a radio patch through ARINC (yes, the airlines are still living in the technological stone age) is just a pain in the a$$.

We have NO real-time radar information other than what we paint 180 nm ahead of us. (I'm not even a fan of the radar that is downloadable on the G550/450. Maybe they've improved it since I left...)

But, dispatch develops our routing based on 12 hour old forecasts and we have to rely on ATC reroutes to get us around the large areas of weather/turbulence.

Having said that, I am a big fan of personal responsibility. You make the rules giving people as much latitude as possible to do their job. When they do something stupid and break the rules you come down hard on that INDIVIDUAL. Don't punish the group for the crimes of one.

You don't want me using a laptop? No problem. Give me XM in the cockpit and we'll be ok. Keep me in the dark and take away a tool I can use to improve safety and efficiency, we got a problem.

TC

 

[Gulfstream 200]

Hey TC -

Guys are using personal laptops for communication and weather avoidance??

I cant see how one would use it to communicate knowing its against SOPs? - talk about hanging yourself for trying to get the job done.



Hope all is well, give a shout sometime.

 

[SansPlane]

Just a thought. Two pilots fall asleep. WTF do we do? Shop talk. Yea, that's the ticket. Looks like admitting fatigue and falling asleep might have been the better option. I really don't know but I am not buying the "current" story. Of course if their laptops were confiscated/reviewed, then we might know at least part of the story. Perhaps this has been done. I have been out of the loop for the last few days.

 

[pilotgolfer]

Just a thought. Two pilots fall asleep. WTF do we do? Shop talk. Yea, that's the ticket. Looks like admitting fatigue and falling asleep might have been the better option. I really don't know but I am not buying the "current" story. Of course if their laptops were confiscated/reviewed, then we might know at least part of the story. Perhaps this has been done. I have been out of the loop for the last few days.

Would the FAA or NTSB have the authority to confiscate personal property? Wouldn't it have to be a criminal investigation in order to collect this kind of "evidence"?

Just curious!

 

[sidesaddle]

No place I have ever worked would have tolerated playing on laptops in the cockpit, or ipod usage, etc....If you need to rest/checkout for awhile - by all means, go into the rest area....watch a dvd, listen to some music, close your eyes...miss radio calls....thats what a rest area is for.

I appreciate your point of view.

As far as "rest/checkout" are you talking about a three pilot crew? or two?

I agree they should have stuck with the truth.

 

[sleepy]

Well, Im sure the NWA crew didnt think having laptops out would make them fly by their destination either....but it did....and they lost their tickets.

An EFB is flight related, and there's no need for 2 EFBs to be used at the same time. 2 laptops out playing around means nobody is minding the store.

I have never flown with anyone who broke out their personal laptop in the cockpit, even on 12+hr legs. I have heard from friends at the airlines that movie watching in the cockpit is not unusual - as they are locked away from the public. Were these guys THAT bored on a 3hr flight that they had to bust out laptops? (I believe their ops manual also specifically prohibited this?)

No place I have ever worked would have tolerated playing on laptops in the cockpit, or ipod usage, etc....If you need to rest/checkout for awhile - by all means, go into the rest area....watch a dvd, listen to some music, close your eyes...miss radio calls....thats what a rest area is for.

Yup, the media is freaking out as usual. As pilots we know the safety aspect is more debatable than the professional aspect...but that's irrelevant as these guys served this one up on a platter. There's simply no defense the public will ever buy for what they did.

Personally, I would have stuck to the "we both fell asleep" story.

We use one EFB for charts and one to overlay XM weather. I don't see a problem with using 2 EFB's.