What Factors Affect General Aviation Pilot Adoption of Electronic Flight Bags?

Why do some pilots choose to use electronic flight bags (EFBs) in their flight operations, yet others continue to rely on traditional avionics and paper charts? Does the use of EFBs differ by age, gender, or flight experience? EFBs, now a common tool in aviation, can display navigational charts, weather, and traffic information, and automate calculation of critical fuel and aircraft performance data. Research that uses EFBs as interactive nodes to exchange data with the System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) network is underway. Understanding what factors may explain differences in pilot adoption and use of EFB technology could shape regulations governing EFB development and design, and could influence how EFBs are integrated into flight operations. Insights into whether EFB adoption differs by demographic factors like age, gender, or flight experience could illuminate whether some adoption factors are more important to different groups of pilots. Such knowledge could impact development of training strategies that address diverse pilot views on EFB use, or inform product sales and marketing strategies. An overview of an ongoing research project using leading theories of technology acceptance will be presented, with a focus on how technology acceptance research could contribute to our understanding of EFB usage trends. Factors to be considered include pilot expectations of the utility of EFBs, how difficult they are to use, available support, social influences, price value, habit, and the pleasure derived from using EFBs