Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200)
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Distraction
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Aircraft
The iPad holders seem to have a few flaws with the new larger iPads. I have previously noticed that the added weight causes some of the mounts to detach resulting in the iPad along with the mount falling at inopportune times. The larger unit also restricts the amount of tilt adjustment for the mount. This has caused some trouble while trying to put in crosswind correction and trying to reach for the tiller. With some adjustment of the mount placement I have been able to get around this but the placement is less than ideal. Today; the biggest issue I encountered was the mount clamp making contact with the power button. While making inputs; trying to switch tabs; or zoom in; the iPad would continually shut off or bring up the Power Off screen. Both of these scenarios remove the chart information from the display. While this is normally not too much of a problem and just a nuisance to have to push the home button and enter the password again to return to the screen that was already selected; it was an issue tonight. ORD was reporting 1 mile visibility with light snow and the taxiways were obscured by a layer of snow. While the taxi instructions were routine; I like to cross reference with my chart that is required to be up while taxiing (especially in reduced visibility). The iPad continually turning off turned out to be a distraction and caused us to have to stop on a couple occasions to make sure that the proper chart was displayed while taxiing. We ran into a similar situation while taxiing to the gate at night. I had to turn the iPad back on on three occasions while taxiing to the gate.[We need a] new mount and case that does not require alternative measures to be used in order to keep required charts visible.
CRJ-200 Captain reported the iPad holders have design flaws working with the larger iPads.