Pay Per App versus Paper Map

Two technology news articles caught my attention this week…

App grounds planes

There the first news article relates to a faulty app causing American Airlines to ground their planes. American Airlines replaced their paper system with iPads a couple of years ago. A bug in the application which was caused by a duplicate chart for one of the airports caused the app to fail and planes to be grounded until a resolution or an alternative could be found.

To read the full story click on the following link… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-32513066

Until the bug in the application was resolved, American Airline pilots flying in and out of this airport had to make use of downloaded flight charts. Which leads me nicely into the second article that caught my eye.

Nav skills need to be taught at school

Earlier today the Royal Institute of Navigation released some news about President calling for navigation to be taught in schools. This is as a result of our growing dependency on sat nav systems to get from A to B.

To read the full story click on the following link… http://www.rin.org.uk/newsitem/4060/Society-

I believe map reading is an essential skill too. I am pro technology (as you would expect) but just as we need resilience in computer and network systems, so do we need resilience when it comes to personal safety. Depending solely on a device and in particular the remaining charge in a battery for our safety and our ability to get to our desired destination concerns me.

I hope the American Airline pilots have sufficient navigational skills to steer their aircraft to the correct destination in the event of an app failure. I also sincerely hope they do not have the daily disagreements I have with my sat nav.