Flight Display's New iPad Arm Mount Upgrade Installs in 10 Seconds

For well over a decade, private jets have been fitted with bulky LCD screens mounted in the side drink rail so that passengers could view movies, flight information or even the news. But these screens are clunky—and passengers couldn’t display their own media. If they wanted to catch up on their favorite TV show, review a presentation, or play a video game, they were out of luck. The new iPad Arm Mount replaces out-dated LCD monitors on any aircraft.

“Considering how many people routinely carry their files and media with them these days, we at Flight Display Systems thought this was a pretty sorry state of affairs,” said David Gray, President of Flight Display Systems. “Why should a tech-savvy VIP, who’s attached to their iPad at the hip, have to put up with juggling it on a food tray, or balancing it on their lap during flight? In this day and age, we expect better—especially from a multi-million dollar aircraft. So we set out to solve that problem, and today we’re very pleased to announce a new product that should get those VIP passengers excited.”

Now business jet operators don’t have to put up with whatever legacy LCD monitors the plane was originally fitted with. They simply remove the existing LCD and arm mount, dock the new iPad Arm Mount, adjust the viewing angle to whatever is comfortable—up to 15 degrees in portrait or landscape modes—then sit back and relax.

And their iPad charges as they go.

“People say their products are revolutionary so often it doesn’t mean anything anymore,” Gray said. “But the iPad Arm Mount really is revolutionary because it is so easy to install on thousands of aircraft already wired with our competitor’s base receptacles.

“That means our iPad Arm Mount is a drop-in replacement. You can swap out your old displays with new iPad Arm Mounts in under ten seconds—literally anyone can do it. No waiting for complicated and irreversible wiring changes.

“We are confident that there’s nothing like that on the market right now,” Gray said.

Arm mount base receptacles are standard on most private aircraft produced between 1996 and 2011, including all models of Gulfstream, Global Express, Cessna Citation, Falcon, Hawker Beechcraft, and Learjet.

Corporate jet owners can purchase the iPad Arm Mount by contacting their local avionics dealer. It’s available in both black and almond text color to match standard aircraft interiors, and comes with a two-year warranty. Tall and Long versions of the iPad Arm Mount are also available.

Its list price is $2,533, and the part number is FDARM-IPD Ver R1.

Flight Display Systems supports both the original Apple iPad and the iPad 2.

The launch customer for the iPad Arm Mount Upgrade is MJETS in Bangkok, Thailand. Photographs show their Cessna Citation X with Rosen Aviation receptacles installed in their drink rails.