The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has updated its guidelines for design and use on hosting electronic flight bag (EFB) applications for portable and installed devices alike.
Through the issuance of an updated Advisory Circular, the FAA has established two major changes since its last guidance was issued in May 2014. Those changes include repeal of a prohibition on the display of aircraft locations in the midst of flight and the allowance of operators to make many changes to EFB applications without having to go through the “middle man” of an FAA principal inspector.
The main goal of the update is to reduce FAA involvement in management of EFB programs, which aid flight crews in flight management tasks. It’s a form of electronic information management. They also clarified the definition of what an EFB is and reorganized the software applications by their safety importance.
For the development of their latest guidelines, the FAA worked both within the industry and reached out to other regulatory authorities. The International Civil Aviation Organization Operations Panel was also involved in the update.