iOS 5 upsets fliers: Pilot safety alert

iPad Pilot Safety Alert

I’m grateful to my neighbour Mike, who runs a successful news helicopter company, for this heads up on a potential safety flaw in iOS 5. As iPads become more popular among pilots, the last thing they want is for Apple to start deleting data without warning. It seems that iOS 5 will delete files at its discretion if the device is getting full.

The issue has to do with Apple’s decision to let the new operating system delete files at its discretion if it were to run low on space. In a worst-case scenario, a pilot might add a video or download a new app only to have the new operating system delete charts from the application database. When the pilot tried to pull up the chart to fly an approach, it would simply not be there.

Apparently several application developers in the aviation field have petitioned Apple to change the way the new OS handles storage. So far, however, Apple has not responded.