Any iPads used at the moment are personal, and subject to the same usage rules as passenger equipment. There is supposedly a project looking at the use of iPads or some other form of tablet, but none of us are holding our breath waiting for them.
Sole source? What about another iPad or a laptop.....the 20kg bag of paper won't still exist. BTW, we have never carried personal copies of this stuff, but some other airlines have.
The 380 currently has a computer based system that shows the charts, but it is appalling, and it is much easier to use the paper. I've seen the Jeppesen iPad app, and it is excellent.
Interesting fly in the ointment here is the comment about not carrying personal software on the pad. One plan that I had heard involved about half of the unit being available, and so meaning that I wouldn't need to carry my personal one. If that's not to be the case, then I'd end up carrying two...and that then starts to throw up all sorts of questions about loss, breakage, excess luggage. As they were also rumoured to be a prime source of contact with crew...why would I carry it at all?
Given that ruling, you could probably just leave 3 or 4 in each coughpit, but that invalidates a number of uses, and makes updates a little more problematic.
