It's because everyone hates each other while flying anyway, and if people had to fly 5 hours with some dumbass yelling on his cell phone the entire time there would be a lot more incidents of "air rage".
Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
21–30 of 301 posts
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#22Easily the most annoying part of flying for me, particularly when doing a quick flight from SFO to LAX is the insistence that I turn off my Kindle while we are lining up for the runway.
* People reading newspapers, and books - both of which are larger, heavier, and just as distracting, and in the case of newspapers, a greater obstacle - are not told to put away their reading material - so the argument that "people need to pay attention on takeoff/landing" is not consistent.
* RF engineers haven't been able to prove that a kindle in airplane mode has a negligible likelihood of impacting the flight systems of an airplane. Really?
One solution, albeit a slightly annoying one, is to have a distinctively colored LED or indicator that is visible from the walkway of the airplane to a stewardess, but not annoying to the reader, which indicates whether a device has been placed in airplane mode.
The new motto then would be "Everyone please place their FAA certified equipment into airplane safety mode. All other electronics, iPads, kindles, laptops, gameboys, iPhones, iPods, must now be put away"
People, being people, would likely start putting the fake LEDs on their electronics to simulate the FAA approved one, unfortunately, not sure what to do about that.
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#23What are the consequences for simply refusing to obey a crew member's instruction to power down your Kindle? Sort of like willfully ignoring the distinction between the first-class and economy security lines---something I wish more people would do.
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#24Easily the most annoying part of flying for me, particularly when doing a quick flight from SFO to LAX is the insistence that I turn off my Kindle while we are lining up for the runway. * People reading newspapers, and books - both of which are larger, heavier, and just as distracting, and in the case of newspapers, a greater obstacle - are not told to put away their reading material - so the argument that "people ne…
I wouldn't worry about people putting fake LEDs on their devices. It's not like a handful of devices being improperly turned on will do anything bad anyway. Do you think all 200+ people on a plane remember to turn off your cell phones? Fat chance. If consumer RF equipment could bring down a plane when used in small numbers, airliners would be raining from the skies.
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#25The last time I flew, most of the people around me didn't know the difference between "airplane mode", "standby", and "off". I'd bet that at least 80% of the phones on that flight were full on despite the efforts of the crew and the device's owners.
Everyone turning off everything successfully before takeoff is pure fiction.
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#26MythBusters covered this awhile back, and busted the myth: "The final explanation is that, even though the airplanes appear to be well-shielded against cellphone interference, there are so many different electronics in a cockpit, as well as so many different cellphones constantly coming out, the FAA doesn't want to do the necessary testing."[1] [1] http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2006/04/episode_49_cellphones_on_...
If they actually aren't willing to test whether cell phones interfere with their equipment, they shouldn't be allowing cell phones on the plane at all. Relying on people's compliance (or even just their attention) to ensure the plane doesn't explode is absurd.
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#27Yes, absolutely turn off all devices. We know with certainty that ANY transmitter can cause terrible havoc with the plane's electronics.
Unless you're paying the ripoff $10 fee for in-flight Wifi, then the dangers are magically avoided.
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#28IEEE - Unsafe At Any Airspeed: Cellphones and other electronics are more of a risk than you think:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/aviation/unsafe-at-any-ai...
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#29There is actually a very logical, sensible reason to have everyone power off and stow their devices during takeoff and landing, and this story disappointingly failed to cover it: By far the most likely time for any accidents or incidents to occur is during takeoffs and landings. If everyone has 15 objects out and is busily typing away, it's going to be tht much more difficult for flight attendants to get everyone's a…
As the author of the piece, I have to disagree with you. First, the F.A.A. never used this as a reason when I spoke with them for my story. Second, if that were the case, then why are people allowed to read books, magazines, and play crossword puzzles on paper? Reading a book on a Kindle will not cause more distraction during an emergency than reading one on paper. Thanks, Nick Bilton.
Don't you ever get tired of being reasonable and/or logical, Nick?
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#30Here's what I don't understand, and admittedly I have very little knowledge of the industry.
There seems to be some sort of approval process for electronics to be vetted during takeoff and landing. Several in-chair entertainment systems seem to have this rating/designation and are allowed during takeoff/landing.
So, is there no dollar amount that could be paid to properly test a particular product? Let's say the Kindle or iPod. It may be millions of dollars, but wouldn't there be a huge word-of-mouth and marketing upside if you could get approved for such a thing?