Log in Sign up

Help centre · For pilots

The pilot EFB

Some airlines give their pilots an EFB: an electronic flight bag for a phone or tablet, with everything about the flight you're flying in one place. Open it from My flights → EFB or the Open the EFB button on your dashboard. Only you see your EFB.

On a phone the tabs are at the bottom of the screen; on a tablet or computer they run down the side. Add the page to your home screen (your browser's Share → Add to Home Screen or Install) and it opens like an app.

The tabs

  • Dashboard: your booked flight, your hours, flights and points, your last landing with your airline's grade for it, and anything waiting for you (documents to read, notifications, questions from staff).
  • Flight: the booking, the SimBrief plan (route, cruise level, runways, fuel, times), the alternates and the NOTAMs. Below them, weather cards for the departure, arrival and alternates: switch between METAR and TAF, add other airports with Add, and see the best runway for the wind. The weather updates every 10 minutes while the page is open.
  • Book: one flight at a time. Search by departure, arrival or flight number, pick the aircraft and press Book; More options opens the full booking page. With a flight booked, this tab shows it and lets you cancel it.
  • Live flight: your flight as ACARS sends it, in large text: phase, altitude, speed, distance to go, the next stable-approach checks and your landing rate right after touchdown.
  • Load: the loadsheet (passengers, bags, cargo, payload) and the weights against the aircraft's limits, from your SimBrief plan (or an estimate before you have one). If you ticked take-off performance in the SimBrief options, the take-off and landing figures (flaps, thrust, V-speeds, Vref, landing distance) show here. The runway analysis lists each runway's length against what your aircraft type needs, with the wind on each end.
  • Reports: file your PIREP if you fly without ACARS, and your logbook of recent flights with their status and landing.
  • Events: upcoming events, news, awards and your recent notifications.
  • Docs: documents your airline asks you to read (press I have read it when done), all its documents, and the pages of your flight's airports.

Your airline may add more tabs, such as checklists.

Search and commands

Press Ctrl+K (Cmd+K on a Mac), or the search button at the top, to jump to any tab, open the booking page, file the PIREP, open the SimBrief OFP, find a document or an airport. Use the arrow keys and Enter, or tap a line.

Offline

Once you've opened the EFB, your phone keeps the last copy of it and of its weather. If you lose your connection, the EFB still opens and says when that copy is from. Choose Save this flight for offline in the search box to keep a fresh copy before you go. Logging out on that device removes the copy; Remove the offline copy does it straight away.

For staff

Switch the EFB on at Airline settings → Optional features → Pilot EFB. It uses what you already set up: your routes and fleet, scoring rules (for the landing grade), documents and events. See Booking a flight for how bookings work.

Was this helpful?