Loganair has chosen to continue its relationship with Vistair’s DocuNet for the management control and distribution of all its airline operational manuals, following its transition to a paperless cockpit.
Loganair, known as Scotland’s Airline, was founded in 1962 and is one of the UK’s longest established airline operations. Since that time and following a number of third-party franchise agreements its route network has grown to encompass over 40 routes to and from Scotland, the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Norway and Ireland. Its recent introduction of Embraer jets form part of the airline’s future operational plans under the Loganair brand.
Vistair has supported Loganair since 2012, when DocuNet was implemented to support publication of its OEM paper manuals. This agreement strengthens the existing relationship and provides a document management platform to support efficient aviation manual editing, publication and distribution.
Looking for ways to support operational efficiency and to improve flight operations, Loganair has begun to invest in paperless technology by rolling out 6th generation iPad devices for its pilots to serve as mobile EFBs.
Andrew Mortimer, EFB Admin at Loganair comments: “Coming from an entirely paper-based cockpit one of the great advantages is being able to immediately issue an up-to-date manual and being able to confirm remotely that crew devices are also current.”
“With paper manuals, the main issue is that we have delays in printing and distribution to aircraft and the only way to audit manuals is to visit the aircraft, which is time consuming, expensive and disruptive.”
INCREASED OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY THROUGH DIGITAL MANUALS
By eliminating traditional paper-based operational manuals and using DocuNet’s IOS viewer on the upgraded iPad, Loganair is able to significantly improve operational efficiency across the group. In particular this includes the immediacy of receiving real time manual updates, and the real reduction in cost as a result of iPad weight versus traditional manual flight deck documents.
Andrew adds: “We have gone from only office-based pilots with management roles having access to an all crew access. Although manuals were available as paper copies on aircraft and PDFs on our Intranet, with individually issued iPads and secure DocuNet accounts I’m certain that the easier access will encourage more regular manual review.”
With this move to the paperless cockpit, Loganair also looks forward to saving on fuel costs, with traditional operational manuals weighing upwards of 20kg (40 to 50lbs), compared with the iPad at less than 1kg.
“This investment is a terrific step change in technology for Loganair and its flight crew,” said Andrew Mortimer. “It means we can easily access valuable information much more speedily while the weight savings are a big advantage in helping reduce fuel burn.”
SIMPLIFYING THE DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT PROCESS
By implementing the DocuNet full service all amendment instructions are now passed directly to the Vistair Team through a simple online process with no requirement for any purchase of any software and minimal user familiarisation.
This trust in the Vistair process brings a number of additional advantages not least of which is security of all data, a reduction in the requirement for Loganair to introduce a separate IT system to manage the documents and the archiving and version control that comes as part of the service.
RAPID SEARCH FUNCTIONALITY AND EASY PUBLISHING
The service also includes the use of DocuNet’s powerful indexed search function. This allows pilots on the online viewer to access relevant information quickly and effortlessly.
The full service also enables seamless publishing to all users and all devices including EFB and mobile devices (iOS and android) with APPs ensuring easy accessibility.
Ian Herbert, CEO at Vistair comments “Having worked with Loganair for over 20 years, it is great to be able to support their development and, in particular, use our expertise to enhance their flight operations. Loganair’s evolution over the past few years has been really good to see, so working with them to help implement a paperless cockpit has been particularly enjoyable.”
Vistair’s document management product, DocuNet, supports over 30 airlines across the globe and is able to integrate with airlines at every level of the document management process, from manipulation and editing of operational and OEM documents (in whatever format - XML, WORD and PDF), right through to the complete management, publication and distribution of all documents to various platforms (EFB, mobile devices – android, iOS, tablets etc.).
For more information about Vistair’s document management capabilities contact us directly.
Image of Loganair SAAB 340 by Dougie Edmond
