My college roommate was a pilot, and his explanation was that on occasion some devices can cause static or interference on the pilot's headsets. Since communication with the tower is critical during takeoff & landing, the policy of power-off is in effect. I guess it's not as critical during taxi, since that is allowed.
Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
151–160 of 301 posts
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#152I was on a flight a few months ago where we stopped on the runway for a few minutes and the flight attendants told us we couldn't take off because "too many" devices were still powered on.
They also told us they had to "reboot Windows".
I'm pretty sure they were full of shit.
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#153There 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…
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Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#154There 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…
They do serve welcome-drinks as soon as passengers got on the plane. Oh, right! Never mind.
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
But nobody actually does, so clearly we're content to trust the software on that matter.
They do if the power button malfunctions. Are you aware of any devices that cannot be turned off because of a software error?
nknight mentioned iphones, ipads, and unibody macbooks.
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#156I haven't turned off a cell phone while flying for almost ten years now. I refuse to be part of any safety or security charade.
Almost there with you. Charade is useful if it prevents a confrontation with someone who does not understand the security theater.
Thus, I turn the screen off for the 3 seconds it takes the flight attendant to walk by. I've been doing this for years. A fair compromise? Silly, but effective perhaps.
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#157The wikipedia article is more interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_on_aircraft This sums it up pretty well: "The regulatory agencies and aviation industry take the position that any increased risk is unacceptable if it is avoidable." There's some technical channel sharing problems where phones have access to more towers than designed on land. The FCC can't predict what would happen if phones were a…
They just dont want to say it's ok then get sued to hell whenever a plane goes down.
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Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#158Surprised the author doesn't bring up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossair_Flight_498.
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#159There 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…
How come I can watch tv during this whole time if this is the reason?
Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why
#160Let's presume for a moment that some sort of interference which could be generated by a box the size of a laptop might have a non-trivial risk to passenger safety. Now, think as a terrorist might. How about sending your minions onto planes with devices which look like standard consumer electronics devices but are capable of generating high levels of interference? Around the holidays in the US, someone checking or car…
No. There's still a human pilot flying the plane. Even an arc welder (probably) won't magically make it go in to a nosedive. What could happen however is that certain navigation systems become unreliable during landing. Add that to bad weather, bad information, human error, and bad luck and you have a potential disaster. But it doesn't seem likely that a terrorist would find such a plan worthwhile to pursue. After al…
Couldn't an EMP disrupt the fly-by-wire systems used in all the big commercial jets these days?
I'm not sure how big the EMP would need to be though. Probably too big to make it past security.