Over the years, many industries have swapped out paper records and briefings for electronic ones, and the airlines are no exception. Over that time, American Airlines has flipped its pilot's Kitbag materials out in favor of Apple's tablets, but the system has recently been giving the airline some issues. As of last night, certain American Airline flights were grounded/delayed due to some kind of app glitch on pilot iPads.
The previously 30-40 pound package containing a series of documents, operational/company manuals, reference sheets and terminal charts is now much lighter with iPad, but it may not be as stable. Based on reports and details from an official American Airlines statement, some flights were experiencing "software application" problems with iPad, causing flights to be delayed last night.
Andrea Huguely from American Airlines said some flights were experiencing an issue with official apps "on pilot iPads" and in some cases were forced to head back to the gate in order to access a Wi-Fi connection before they could take care of it.
While it appears the issue has been mostly taken care of at this point, Huguely said the airline is investigating the cause of the error. Americn Airlines was the first major airline to get FAA approval for the use of iPads across the entire course of a flight, and it now appears to be the first one to have an issue with it.