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iPad app outage affects a “a few dozen” American Airlines flights

Update: American Airlines has confirmed that the problem was with a bad update to the Jepson app that added Ronald Reagan Airport map. The app provides maps of runways and more information to pilots. Until the app can be fixed, the airline has informed pilots of a workaround to prevent future delays.

Two years ago, American Airlines replaced the paper versions of its cockpit documents with iPad flight bags on all planes. At the time, the airline touted that the switch would both save money for the company and make the lives of pilots easier. This evening, however, more than several dozen American Airlines flights have been affected by an outage related to the app used by American Airlines pilots. Many flights have been delayed and passengers forced to exit the planes.

“Some flights are experiencing an issue with a software application on pilot iPads,” American Airlines wrote on Twitter. According to various user reports, iPads went blank for both captains and copilots. In order to resolve the issues, pilots had to return to the gate and connect to the WiFi. American Airlines says that the outage is not limited to just 737s like initially thought, but rather is random and affecting a variety of flights.

It’s unclear how many flights are still being affected by this iPad outage, but some users have reported on Twitter that they’ve been able to take off. The issue was centered around an update that was pushed 4 days ago, according to one pilot.

American Airlines deployed some 8,000 iPads in 2013 to replace paper in the cockpit. The switch allowed pilots to ditch more than 35 pounds of paper documents. Now, all documents are stored on iPads for captains and copilots.

 

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Comments

  1. iJonni - 9 years ago

    Is it just me or is this being interpreted as an issue with the iPad’s instead of with the app and the update that was issued?? How is this an iPad outage or iPad bug? It’s an internal app issue

    • prffl - 9 years ago

      Exactly iJonni! What’s an iPad outage anyways??? Come on Chance, get to the bottom of this story and inform us correctly!

    • Smigit - 9 years ago

      Agreed. Absolutely terrible article title.

    • incredibilistic - 9 years ago

      I understand the need to report on the story but it’s a shame that Twitter is a substitute for actual, factual news.

      Once the smoke clears and we get REAL information I’m sure the problem will attributed to a specific app the pilots use that’s obviously connected to a cloud server that’s having issues. Could be something as simple as conducting IP’s.

    • Edison Wrzosek - 9 years ago

      I was about to comment independently, but your comment nailed it! The entire headline, and even the first paragraph with the sentence “This evening, however, more than several dozen American Airlines flights have been affected by an iPad-related outage” make it sound like it was a direct result of a hardware/software failure with the iPad’s…

      One has to read down to the THIRD paragraph to find out this was actually one of AA’s APP UPDATES that caused things to fail!!!

      The editor of this site should do a better job auditing articles by his writers, because this one is complete horse shit.

  2. mpias3785 - 9 years ago

    Agreed, it sounds more like problem with the app or the deployment rather than the iPad.

    • jrox16 - 9 years ago

      It’s stories like this and Tweets like those shown above that fuel the stories and ignorance of technology, resulting in the hysteria we see all the time about modern tech. The Tweeter is a moron.

      IT IS NOT “iPads crashing across the fleet”.
      IT IS NOT “iPad bug grounding flights”.
      IT IS “American Airlines iPad software crashing and grounding the fleet.”

      People have become so sickly lazy in their writing and communication skills and it seems to only get worse with each generation.

      • Liam Deckham - 9 years ago

        No!!! It is iOS 8.3 and all its bugs and issues that messed up the American Airlines apps.

        8.3 is a disaster!

        “iTunes cannot let your flight take off because the iPad disconnected.”

  3. nana (@purplemaize) - 9 years ago

    Probably the new update still needs fixed on the wifi. My guess well I think the Airlines should be able to take part in the Beta testing for Wifi strength, so they don’t get Booted off from a distance. That is the problem with this update same thing and apps are quitting.

    • Michael Superczynski - 9 years ago

      Properly written apps won’t crash because Wi-Fi is unavailable.
      It’s a bug in their home grown app, nothing to do with iPad stability.

  4. Saulius Antanavicius - 9 years ago

    My iPad 4 went black and never colored again after two years of usage. Plain dead in the middle of the day. What would happen in the middle of the flight I have no idea but I’d rather not be there.

    • jrox16 - 9 years ago

      You think they have one single iPad on the plane and the survival of that flight is dependent on that one single iPad without a backup?? LOL

      I wouldn’t fly a stupid Airline like that in the first place, any thing can break, even it it’s 0.01% of iPads sold.

  5. nickjdt - 9 years ago

    Well it’s much easier to blame the iPad than the software running on it.

  6. airmanchairman - 9 years ago

    Also, the common denominator here is a single airline in one country one one particular evening.

    But watch the hordes of barely literate paid shills masquerading as journalists as they attempt to warp and bend logic through the black holes of their vacant minds and relate this isolated incident to the year-on-year decline of iPad sales worldwide.

    • mrobertson21 - 9 years ago

      except that literally no one has done this. maybe try skipping the persecution complex — we’re talking about technology, not race or religion.

      • jrox16 - 9 years ago

        It was a little strong, but what he describes has been the internet’s MO for a while now.

      • mrobertson21 - 9 years ago

        i don’t disagree with that — i disagree with the idea that Apple is the only company that gets criticized by blogs.

    • thejuanald - 9 years ago

      I bet you’re a horrible person to be around.

  7. Aleksander Hoff - 9 years ago

    Sounds more like a bug in their internal iPad app, not the iPad’s themselves. They need to hire better programmers.

  8. rwanderman - 9 years ago

    It begs the question: how iOS literate were these pilots in particular and pilots in general? What are they trained to do when their flight app(s) crash? And, if they’re away from wifi and downloading a fresh copy isn’t possible, do they have a plan B?

  9. prius3 - 9 years ago

    Interesting how on 9to5 and appleinsider the news is given in the same way – the iPad crash causes a delay for one or more AA flights. Only to read that it was a third party app that crashes due to an update done 4 days ago on the app itself and it has nothing to do with the iPad itself (hardware or iOS software bug).
    Why are the news not reported properly?
    And moreover, why does the flight delay so much (hours) – doesn’T AA have a bag with the 35pounds worth of documentation ready if the iPad goes bust? either itself or the apps they use to replace the paper?
    What is the backup plan of AA? how can a flight be delayed and/or be grounded for the failure of an app, on a iPad, which has nothing to do with the plane itself, and there is no paper version available to enable take off according to plan?
    I’d fly with something else other than AA. And Apple should sue them for negative publicity, if the statement about “iPad outage” was given directly from AA, and it is not a misinterpretation of those who write the articles. Otherwise said, who said what?

    • prius3 - 9 years ago

      PS: the article should be titled more appropriately “Third party app bug introduced with update, crashes iPads keeping on the ground AA flights”

  10. blakninja (@blakninja) - 9 years ago

    Chance Miller, do you know what an iPad does? Your title is so misleading..

  11. philboogie - 9 years ago

    “They should’ve bought the iPad Air”

  12. jrox16 - 9 years ago

    #FlightGate

  13. There are several headlines around geek-o-sphere that are misrepresenting this as an “iPad” issue, when in fact it’s a problem with a particular app. There sites are doing a huge disservice in the name click-baiting. It’s really asinine reporting and the fact that the editors let this crap sneak though means only one thing … money talks, facts take a back seat.

    Pretty f’ing distusting.

  14. Felipe Fonseca - 9 years ago

    Jeppesen, not Jepson.

Author

Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

Tips, questions, typos to chance@9to5mac.com