Recently I blogged about digital design of Aircraft using the title “The end of paper flight?”.
The odd thing is that many flights, especially in light aircraft, are totally dependent on paper – thick books of charts and flight instructions. It seems rather primitive to have pilots carrying hundreds of bits of paper, searching for the right chart when they probably have more important tasks to do!
It appears that hassle is about to end as electronic ink, digital paper, takes to the air. eFlyBook is a small, electronic notebook for use in the cockpit which uses a passive, paper like, digital ink display and stylus, pen like, entry for searching.
Seems like the only paper in flight will be aircraft like the Barnaby Flyer...*
eFlyBook by ARINC
For the first time, digital FAA flight charts, en route charts, terminal procedures, and other flight documents can be downloaded, stored and viewed easily on eFlyBook, a small, electronic notebook for use in the cockpit. Charts, documents, and other digital content are provided by MyAirplane.com, which uses its award-winning viewer and compression technology to minimize storage requirements without degrading the quality of the documents.
* The Barnaby Flyer is a proper paper aircraft, NOT a dart. With a bit of care when folding it can achieve proper controlled flight, even circle and use updrafts to gain height. It was invented by Capt. Ralph S. Barnaby, USN (Ret), and it first appeared in his book "How to Make & Fly Paper Airplanes" (Scholastic Book Services 1968).
I was about 10 when I read his book as part of a science project on flight. I made many, probably hundreds, and watched one fly for an amazing, stopwatch timed, 3 minutes after launching from a high cliff near Piha. It flew several hundred metres down almost to sea level then climbed, in an updraft, almost returning to the launch point before descending again to the sea – Biodegradable of course!