Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) have come a long way since pilots first began carrying their personal laptops onboard airplanes back in the early 1990s. Today, there are a wide range of choices from laptops to iPhones to other mobile or PC-like devices that can be used as EFBs.
Recently, John Ewing posted an entry on Aviation Mentor about converting his 2-year old Apple Macbook to a Modbook. For those of you not familiar with the Modbook, it is an an after-market modification developed by Axiotron that converts an Apple MacBook into a slate-style tablet computer. Hence, you combine all the benefits of having an Apple Macbook and a tablet like device that can be easily used by a pilot as an EFB.
John’s detailed post takes readers through the conversion process and there is even a time-lapse video of a Modbook conversion that was put together by the firm he used for the conversion. Once the conversion was done, John loaded his new EFB with ReadyProcs software which provides the latest US Terminal Procedures. Since ReadyProcs does not yet provide Airport/Facility Directory support, he is also using the Adobe Reader to access PDF versions downloaded from Nacomatic plus he is trying out NACO raster sectional charts that are displayed with MacGPSPro using the built-in WAAS GPS receiver that comes with a Modbook conversion.
John state’s that he is extremely pleased with his new EFB setup; however, converting a Macbook into a Modbook does not come cheap. According to John, the mod service costs around US$1200 if you already own a Macbook and if you don’t already own one, expect to pay about US$2400. He points out that a more cost effective alternative could be an Asus unit; however, there are rumors that an US$800 Mac Tablet will be released in November plus there are other mini tablet PCs already on the market that could be used as EFBs. Hence, it may be better to shop around or wait until the end of the year before deciding to purchase or create a device to act as an EFB.
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