American Airlines planes grounded by iPad app error

American Airlines says it is still investigating the cause of the
glitch
A faulty app caused American Airlines to ground dozens of
its jets.
The glitch caused iPad software - used by the planes' pilots
and co-pilots for viewing flight plans - to stop working.
The firm's cockpits went "paperless" in 2013 to save its staff
having to lug heavy paperwork on board. AA estimated the
move would save it more than $1.2m (£793,600) in fuel every
year .
The company said that it had now found a fix for the problem.
"We experienced technical issues with an application installed
on some pilot iPads," said a spokesman.
"This issue was with the third-party application, not the iPad,
and caused some departure delays last night and this
morning.
"Our pilots have been able to address the issue by
downloading the application again at the gate prior to take-off
and, as a back-up, are able to rely on paper charts they can
obtain at the airport.
"We apologise for the inconvenience to our customers."
American Airlines pilots use an app called FliteDeck, which is
made by the Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen.
A spokesman for the firm provided further detail.
American Airlines said its pilots often carried more than
35lb (16kg) of paperwork
"The issue was caused by a duplicate chart for Reagan
National Airport in American's chart database," said Mike
Pound.
"The app could not reconcile the duplicate, causing it to shut
down.
"We were able to remedy the situation quickly, and instruct
pilots to uninstall and reinstall the app.
"Until the chart database is updated, AA pilots flying to or
from National will use PDF [portable document format] images
of the chart, outside of the app."
Electronic flight bags
Serge Gojkovich, chief executive of car parking app-maker
Curbstand, was among the passengers affected.
He tweeted that his San Francisco-to-Los Angeles flight only
got airborne on Tuesday after its pilots told passengers they
had printed off the maps they needed .
Mr Gojkovich suggested that the pilots of his flight printed
out the materials they needed
American Airlines is not the only carrier whose pilots and
cabin crew have switched from using physical charts and
paper manuals to tablets.
United Airlines was also an early adopter of iPads, while Delta
has opted for Microsoft's Surface tablets instead.
British Airways and Ryanair are among others still in the
process of shifting to so-called Electronic Flight Bag-based
systems.
In addition to saving on fuel costs, it is also suggested that
such kit reduces flight preparation time, reduces the likelihood
of injuries and helps staff by offering real-time updates.