BY YUTAKA HAYASHI

ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO

Alec Baldwin still cannot play Words with Friends when the plane is preparing for takeoff, but the Federal Aviation Administration decided Tuesday that American Airline pilots can use iPads from gate to gate. ZDNet has the details...

"AA pilots received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to test iPads with electronic charts this summer and asked to take it to the next logical level: replacing most of their paper books and charts with digital documents on the iPad... a 1.5 pound iPad replaces about 35 pounds of paper saving an estimated $1.2 million worth of fuel per year.”

iPads will start navigating AA pilots this Friday. But what happens if the tablets break down? TechCrunch tells us, don't worry…

"The iPads must have backup batteries, and although I was joking about requisitioning a passenger’s iPad, it could be done if they had internet access."

So, will passengers also be able to use iPads all through the flight soon? The Wall Street Journal says probably not, citing a recently rejected White House petition to change the FAA regulation.

"The petition states 'studies to date conclude that there’s little risk to allowing electronic devices to be used during takeoff and landing.' 'Little risk'? Do we really want the word little before the word risk when it comes to safety on an airplane? It doesn’t say 'no risk.'"

An analyst on CNN says the FAA is still concerned iPads could interfere with airplanes’ GPS—and that’s why passengers won’t have the pilots’ luxury of using their tablets during take off and landing.

"I should tell you, however, that the airlines do not use GPS as their primary navigational tool. So, you're not interfering with anything that helps them get from point A to point B. Has the FAA done tests on behalf of the passengers? No, they have said all along, we are along, we're just going to err on the side of caution here. The bottom line is, if the airlines come to them and say 'look, we want to save a few bucks,' things happen very quickly."

Meanwhile, Mashable reports first class passengers flying American Airlines will be given Galaxy Tabs as an entertainment option -- but that doesn’t mean you can use them during takeoff, landing, or while on the ground.