Pentastar develops iPad EFB yoke-mount bracket for business jet cockpits and other general aviation aircraft

WATERFORD, Mich., 24 June 2012. Pentastar Aviation, a fixed-base operator (FBO) and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) specialist in Waterford, Mich., has developed an articulating yoke mount for business jets and other general aviation cockpits that accommodates the Apple iPadelectronic flight bag (EFB).

The first production units should be available for installations in July, pending Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) approval by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in Washington.

Once secured to the yoke mount, pilots and flight crew can maneuver the iPad easily for viewing in portrait or landscape orientation with an adjustable viewing angle. In the portrait position, crews can stow the iPad above the control yoke.

Pentastar unveiled the U.S. patent-pending mount earlier this month at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Regional Forum in Teterboro, N.J.

“As we saw customers increasingly switching to the iPad from older style EFBs, we began working on a mount to accommodate that trend and allow pilots to operate with increased levels of safety, efficiency and awareness,” explains Kim Groomes, Pentastar's senior inventor and creator of the mount.

Groomes previously designed a similar mount for electronic flight bag (EFB) devices and has designed numerous inventions used at Pentastar’s FAR 145 repair station. The iPad mount will be a Class 2 EFB installation with optional technical standard order (TSO) power supplies, one of the requirements for paperless operations.

Gulfstream business jets will be the first aircraft types on the approved model list STC for the mount, with other corporate, commercial, and military aircraft types to follow, Pentastar officials say. All EFB mount parts will have parts manufacturer approval (PMA).

“The iPad‘s rapidly expanding presence in cockpits, along with its associated applications, afford pilots an increased level of situational awareness, enhanced cockpit resource management, increased safety and access to automatic downloads of the most recently updated checklists, weather, flight and airport information,” says Danny Clifton, Pentastar's vice president of flight operations.

For more information contact Pentastar Aviation online at www.pentastaraviation.com.

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