iPad App grounds American Airlines planes

According to the BBC, a faulty app has 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 reportedly went "paperless" in 2013 to save its staff having to lug heavy paperwork on board. The airlines had estimated that the move would save it more than $1.2million in fuel every year, and it 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,” he added.

"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,” he explained apologising for the inconvenience caused by the delays.

American Airlines pilots use an app called FliteDeck, which is made by the Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen, the BBC reports.

“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,” a spokesman confirmed.

American Airlines is not the only carrier whose pilots and cabin crew have switched from using physical charts and paper manuals to tablets with United Airlines also being listed as an early adopter of iPads, while Delta 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, on the other hand.

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.