What it is: In flight sim, the EFB is usually built into the aircraft as a clickable cockpit tablet or a pop-out panel. Developers use it to bring together jobs that would otherwise be split between aircraft menus, external tools, charts, loadsheets, and performance calculators.
In practice: During a simulated flight, you might use the EFB before departure to set passenger and cargo weights, fuel quantity, doors, pushback, or ground services. Many aircraft also use it for take-off and landing performance, airport charts, OFP import, SimBrief integration, and quick links to navigation data. Some EFBs talk directly to the FMS or avionics, so loading a route there can populate the cockpit systems automatically. Others are more limited and act mainly as a control panel for aircraft-specific features and failures.
Key considerations:
- EFB features vary a lot by aircraft, so one add-on’s tablet may be central to normal operation while another’s is mostly optional.
- If an aircraft supports SimBrief or chart integration through the EFB, correct account linking and current nav data usually matter for routes and procedures to load properly.
