
FAA to reevaluate inflight portable electronic device use  - vectorbunny
https://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/faa-reevaluate-inflight-portable-electronic-device-use-%E2%80%93-no-cell-phones-though
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paulsutter
Some airlines in the middle east, Europe, and Asia allow phones with (of
course) no issues [1]. Let's hope sanity prevails here, but I'm not holding my
breath.

I'm sure this rule started out as a prudent idea when electronic devices were
rare. Once in place, a rule like this is almost impossible to remove. Any
bureaucrat is afraid to revoke the rule because he runs a risk of being blamed
for some crash some day. It's not even irrational, given how randomly causes
get assigned. It's maddening and ludicrous and not surprising at all.

If the rule had never existed, the people defending the rule would never even
think to have it implemented.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_on_aircraft>

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bdunn
From what I've heard, it's more to try to keep distractions to a minimum
during high risk parts of flight - namely, take off and landing. But still
being able to read a magazine but not a Kindle negates this whole arguments.

Trust me: if there was a technical risk from iPhones, they wouldn't be allowed
onboard.

~~~
frisco
If by "high risk" you mean, "orders of magnitude safer than any other common
mode of transportation". (Flying having ~3 deaths per 10 billion passenger
miles, with driving at ~1.6 deaths per hundred million passenger miles.)

Early on, EM radiation could have interfered with old-school VOR navigation.
However, today everyone uses GPS navigation, and planes are huge flying EM-
emitting computers anyway, so this is no longer a real issue. Communications
are interference tolerant for the kinds of emissions we're talking about.

The explanation I'd heard for why the no-phones-in-flight rule is still around
is that passengers really dislike people having cell phone conversations next
to them. Thus, the airlines can provide a better customer experience by
keeping phones off. This obviously doesn't extend to no electronics at take-
off or landing, of course, which should just be allowed.

~~~
bdunn
Agreed. As a (private) pilot, and I understand why getting the passengers and
crew focused for take off and landing _is_ important. Compared to normal
flight, those are the riskiest times - though as you said, still extremely
safe compared to driving.

I understand the no-phones rule. I actually love that cell phones being used
to TALK ON aren't allowed in flight. What I take issue with is that having
electronics on is a safety hazard to the aircraft. If that was true, my Kindle
would be confiscated along with my > 3.1oz bottle of shampoo at the
checkpoint.

------
crikli
Certificated private pilots like myself use iPads on an increasing basis in
the cockpit. There is no issue with interference, nor is there any empirical
evidence to indicate so. The ban is and always has been ludicrous.

~~~
bdunn
It's a joke. When I fly, I'm on my cellphone and using ForeFlight w/ GPS to
navigate. My lil' Piper doesn't care :-)

------
kevinburke
There are documented cases of electronic devices causing interference with
onboard electronics. From Boeing:

    
    
        A passenger's palmtop computer was reported to cause
        the airplane to initiate a shallow bank turn. One minute
        after turning the PED off, the airplane returned to "on
        course." When the unit was brought to the flight deck,
        the flight crew noticed a strong correlation by turning
        the unit back on and watching the anomaly return, then
        turning the unit off and watching the anomaly stop. 
    

Link:
[http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_10/interf...](http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_10/interfere_textonly.html)

I don't understand why Apple or Google don't pay Boeing the cost to test their
phones on planes. It would be a great selling point.

~~~
pash
The document you linked describes several suspected cases of a portable
electronic device interfering with an airplane's navigation system, but in
every case Boeing was unable to duplicate the phenomenon in follow-up testing.

------
dotBen
You have to turn off your phone when the plane door is shut while at the gate,
but you can turn on your phone when the plane touches down during landing. I
was told this is more to do with the FAA wanting to do everything possible to
"encourage" you to pay attention to the safety briefing.

I can't find the link where I read that right now, still looking. But it means
that I doubt much will change given that its not just electronic interference
that is the reason for the ban of electronics during taxi'ing at least.

~~~
ximeng
They should allow you to do regular certified training to show that you know
the safety procedures rather than trying to force people to watch videos again
and again.

------
joelrunyon
Is anyone else worried about people this is going to lead to scores of people
trying to board while talking away on their phones while forgetting about the
200 people behind them?

Or, for that matter get seated next to a guy who's arguing with his
spouse/stockbroker/best friend the entire 4 hour flight?

I'm all for in-flight communication, but I'm a little worried of the chaos it
might bring as well.

~~~
jswanson
The article does state:

    
    
      The group however will not "consider the airborne use of cell phones 
      for voice communications during flight."

~~~
epoxyhockey
I seem to recall that a cell phone isn't likely to operate at 30,000 feet to
begin with. There is an issue with a cell phone, at altitude, associating with
many cell towers at once which consumes too many resources and is
automatically shut out from the network. I tried to find the reference
(probably from ~10 years ago on Slashdot), but couldn't locate it thus far.

EDIT: Here's one source
[http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=213012&cid=1732...](http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=213012&cid=17329448)
saying that thousands of people switching cell towers frequently would strain
resources. It also mentions that planes may be installing cell equipment into
the plane to eliminate this issue.

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sudonim
Does it seem like insanity to anyone else that portable electronic devices
would have any impact on a plane in flight? Even a cell phone. How poorly
designed would a plane have to be to be affected by that stuff?

Honestly, the requirement made me less confident that anyone in aviation knew
what they were doing.

------
Eduardo3rd
I'm cautiously optimistic about potential changes. It would be great to keep
using my Kindle/iPad/etc during takeoff and landing, but I'd be surprised if
the changes go that far. At least it's the FAA and not the TSA looking into
this, otherwise I'm sure we'd never be able to turn anything on during a
flight.

------
KHPatel
Lots of potential for startups in the inflight entertainment space if they
uplift the restrictions on PEDs

~~~
thematt
How so? You can already use portable electronic devices in flight, just not
during takeoff or landing. I fail to see how lifting those two minor
restrictions alone will open up anything to startups.

