United pilots receive iPad flight manuals

United and Continental pilots will soon trade in their paper flight manuals for electronic iPad manuals. The current paper manual weighs in at 38 pounds and contains over 12,000 pages and is required to be on hand before, during, and after a flight. The new iPad manuals will weigh only 1.5 pounds.

United and Continental are following the footsteps of other airlines including Delta and and Alaska Air which have already switched to paperless manuals. The Federal Aviation Administration began clearing the way for iPad earlier this year when they allowed smaller airplanes to use paperless manuals, followed by commercial airlines.

All pilots for the airline are expected to receive their new iPad by that end of the year.

To learn more about the new iPad flight manuals, click here.