Narrative:

I can't begin to even express the level of frustration experienced last evening; with both engines up and running; in a line-up with a slot and flow control; and a thin margin on reserve fuel when my ipad became a literal boat anchor as it began to auto-download 1. A large jeppfd-pro update 2. A pilot mobile update 3. An update to hot application. Adding to the stress level; it's night; unfamiliar airport with already complex departure procedures; thin geographic taxi margins; and rising terrain in all quadrants. Not to mention leg 3 of 4 on an already long day. As the captain; my plate rapidly became full. I unsuccessfully attempted to stop the download in order to have departure SID; and remembering that we would be down to one ipad (first officer); I needed to probably get approval from the [dispatch manager]. The ipad wasn't broken but it was at 50% capability and the extra flight bag didn't have a complete set of plates for [departure airport].we pulled out of the lineup and into the penalty box. I called [dispatch] and quickly related my frustration and pointedly expressed my need for a flight waiver; and I needed it five minutes ago. We received verbal approval and written follow up and we left the box and got back in line. Aside with having to return to the old school approach plate procedures; which felt like wearing borrowed cleats; the remainder of the flight was uneventful.as a side note; normally I wouldn't have had the internet up; but I had to use the back panel electrical outlet to recharge my ipad while we did our ground turn. Since I had just downloaded the flight plan forecast package; the ipad was still in the cellular data mode when I plugged in to begin charging; then left the jet to continue my pre-departure tasks.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A319 Captain reported departure was delayed when an iPad began a download during taxi out that inhibited access to the departure plate.

Narrative: I can't begin to even express the level of frustration experienced last evening; with both engines up and running; in a line-up with a slot and flow control; and a thin margin on reserve fuel when my iPad became a literal boat anchor as it began to auto-download 1. A large JeppFD-Pro update 2. A Pilot mobile update 3. An update to HOT application. Adding to the stress level; it's night; unfamiliar airport with already complex departure procedures; thin geographic taxi margins; and rising terrain in all quadrants. Not to mention leg 3 of 4 on an already long day. As the Captain; my plate rapidly became full. I unsuccessfully attempted to stop the download in order to have departure SID; and remembering that we would be down to one iPad (FO); I needed to probably get approval from the [dispatch manager]. The iPad wasn't broken but it was at 50% capability and the extra flight bag didn't have a complete set of plates for [departure airport].We pulled out of the lineup and into the penalty box. I called [dispatch] and quickly related my frustration and pointedly expressed my need for a flight waiver; and I needed it five minutes ago. We received verbal approval and written follow up and we left the box and got back in line. Aside with having to return to the old school approach plate procedures; which felt like wearing borrowed cleats; the remainder of the flight was uneventful.As a side note; normally I wouldn't have had the internet up; but I had to use the back panel electrical outlet to recharge my iPad while we did our ground turn. Since I had just downloaded the flight plan forecast package; the iPad was still in the cellular data mode when I plugged in to begin charging; then left the jet to continue my pre-departure tasks.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.