Narrative:

This report involves an aircraft environmental threat that I've experienced since the efb mounts replaced the chart clips in our aircraft. Unfortunately; our company has created this threat for pilots to deal (or not deal with) on their own. The chart holder on the yoke does not hold the chart where it is visible so that a pilot can divide their attention inside and outside the aircraft. In fact; the current situation dictates that even the cleverest pilot still must take their attention completely away from the outside to refer to his/her chart. During this flight which was conducted largely under night IMC I was reminded of how much of a threat this really is especially during the departure; takeoff; approach; and landing phases. On taxi-out; it is important that both pilots have the airport diagram out. I copied one other pilot who was using the sun visor when it is fully retracted and stowed to help hold the chart right below the dv window. This allows for illumination with the chart light above. This solution however; is crude at best and does not work well. Lets shift our focus to the captain has he/she taxis out. I've seen the wisest captain un-clip the airport chart from his/her binder and lay it on the center console. When he/she needs to refer to it; they pick the chart up so as to divide their attention between the diagram and taxiing the airplane. Many captains rely heavily solely on me to make sure we are going the correct by way of a airport diagram but shouldn't both pilots (even one at this point would be safer) have a safe; and easy view of their charts? This theme carries through all phases of flight. With the autopilot on in cruise; looking at charts clipped into your binder; resting on top of your flight case; or resting on the center console are not as much of a safety concern as your workload during this phase of flight is reduced and time to react to correct things increased. But again; as we transition to the approach phase; it becomes critical to safety that both pilots have quick; viewing access to their charts without taking all of their attention away from looking outside and flying the airplane. But this simply is not the case folks and I am writing this report (actually; I have written many reports bringing this to light) to re-emphasis this problem to people who do not get a chance to observe and soak-up our environment. It is my intention to be part of the solution by first bringing this to your attention with this report. I can tell you it is a problem every pilot I've flown with has concern for. We as pilots have had to resort to our own ingenuity but many folks simply don't refer to their charts as much. This is because they have chosen to fly the airplane first and rely more heavily on their flying partner and their memory. We all look forward to functional efb's but there should not be a safety compromise in the mean time.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB170 First Officer describes difficulties using newly available EFB's provided by his company. The EFB cannot be mounted like an old paper chart on the yoke and cannot be easily referenced during busy phases of flight.

Narrative: This report involves an aircraft environmental THREAT that I've experienced since the EFB mounts replaced the chart clips in our aircraft. Unfortunately; our company has created this THREAT for pilots to deal (or not deal with) on their own. The chart holder on the yoke does not hold the chart where it is visible so that a pilot can divide their attention inside and outside the aircraft. In fact; the current situation dictates that even the cleverest pilot still must take their attention completely away from the outside to refer to his/her chart. During this flight which was conducted largely under night IMC I was reminded of how much of a THREAT this really is especially during the departure; takeoff; approach; and landing phases. On taxi-out; it is important that both pilots have the airport diagram out. I copied one other pilot who was using the sun visor when it is fully retracted and stowed to help hold the chart right below the DV window. This allows for illumination with the chart light above. This solution however; is crude at best and does not work well. Lets shift our focus to the Captain has he/she taxis out. I've seen the wisest Captain un-clip the airport chart from his/her binder and lay it on the center console. When he/she needs to refer to it; they pick the chart up so as to divide their attention between the diagram and taxiing the airplane. Many Captains rely heavily solely on me to make sure we are going the correct by way of a airport diagram but shouldn't both pilots (even one at this point would be safer) have a safe; and easy view of their charts? This theme carries through all phases of flight. With the autopilot on in cruise; looking at charts clipped into your binder; resting on top of your flight case; or resting on the center console are not as much of a safety concern as your workload during this phase of flight is reduced and time to react to correct things increased. But again; as we transition to the approach phase; it becomes critical to safety that both pilots have quick; viewing access to their charts without taking all of their attention away from looking outside and flying the airplane. But this simply is NOT the case folks and I am writing this report (actually; I have written many reports bringing this to light) to re-emphasis this problem to people who do not get a chance to observe and soak-up our environment. It is my intention to be part of the solution by first bringing this to your attention with this report. I can tell you it is a problem every pilot I've flown with has concern for. We as pilots have had to resort to our own ingenuity but many folks simply don't refer to their charts as much. This is because they have chosen to FLY the airplane first and rely more heavily on their flying partner and their memory. We all look forward to functional EFB's but there should not be a safety compromise in the mean time.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.