It’s all about trying to break free from the cost, rigidity and hassle of dedicated $500K-per-aircraft boxes and 15 year FAA approval cycles. Once we have reliable off-board connectivity then the creativity of the whole software industry can be brought to bear on our needs.
The reason it has to be wireless is both that iPads don’t have wires (stupid Apple), and the requirement to not physically connect any unapproved device into the aircraft network wiring.
To fit within FAA regs, we must use only battery power, even though there are power outlets in most cockpits. As a result, each of us carries a heavy backup battery and cabling in addition to the tablet itself.
They also require we mount the iPad in a stupid flimsy suction-cup-on-window thingy because any more permanent physical connection between aircraft and iPad would subject the entire tablet and OS to complete end-to-end FAA certification requirements. Which of course no tablet mfg or OS would ever do.
We’re even required to unstick and restick the suction cups before every flight so as to “prove” it legally isn’t a permanent installation.
What we *are *doing is fully FAA sanctioned. After many, many years of cajoling and more than one year of “testing” the safety difference between using a pdf-equivalent of a paper chart instead of an actual dead-tree paper chart.
They too are tiptoing into the future gingerly, trying to uphold the intent of their draconian certification rules while still permitting some forward progress at a modern pace. Their bureaucracy does not reward individual FAA staffers for initiative in clearing out regulatory thickets. So it’s slow going.
Careful is good. Slow for slow’s sake or mindless CYA is not.