Features Innovative Power-Off Capability

The ARINC eFlyBook display sits innocently among a row of vendor displays in an Airventure hangar. To most it seems that this is just another electronic flight book, a copy of many companies all claiming the best readability. What is different about eFlyBook is the technology used to create its unique display.

ARINC's eFlyBook is not simply a backlit screen; it utilizes two laminated layers with thousands of "black spheres" -- similar in concept to an Etch-A-Sketch -- between the surfaces. An electromagnetic field pulls the spheres to the surface, and the eFlyBook actually uses no energy once the image has been made. If the battery runs out during a flight, the chart on the display will remain there. This substantially increases the usability and encourages one to leave behind the approach plates and maps that clutter a cockpit.

The eFlyBook display is very readable, even in direct sunlight. The unit is not backlit, because the goal was to create an electronic chart that behaves exactly like paper. If you are embarking on a night IFR flight, you'll have to use your flashlight to view the screen. The unit not only displays the standard charts, but includes airport diagrams and approach plates. Also included is a digital copy of the FAR/AIM, and users can add their own documents, ranging from digital copies of radio manuals to memos. Using the included stylus, you can write onto the screen just as you would write onto a piece of paper, allowing the user to fill out flight plans on the unit itself, as well as write on the charts.

Usable internal memory is 128 megabytes, which is expandable through SD, USB, and Compact Flash cards. ARINC includes a one gigabyte SD card with the unit. "Battery life is about eight hours," says ARINC's Senior Program Manager William Doyen. The eFlyBook also features wireless connectivity so that you can transfer documents to it, and the eFlyBook comes with a 400 megahertz processor with 64 megabytes of RAM. The eight inch display's resolution is 768x1024, allowing for the clarity and size of comparable paper charts and approach plates.

A new version of the eFlyBook's software is expected to be released by ARINC within the next three weeks. Updates will include a complete Airport/Facility Directory as well as enroute charts that can be moved around the display by dragging the stylus.

ARINC's Oshkosh booth was busy with attendees studying the eFlyBook's display, and if that is any indication of interest, the eFlyBook is likely to rise to the top of the electronic flight book food chain. The new technology does come at a price, which is to be expected of any breakthrough product.

ARINC's eFlyBook retails for $1,500, which includes a six month subscription to chart updates. Once that time period expires, yearly chart update subscriptions cost an additional $250 per year. Judging from the interested aviators at ARINC's display, pilots and aircraft owners are certainly willing to put the eFlyBook's technology to work in their cockpits.

FMI: www.arinc.com/products/eflybook/