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Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why

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201–210 of 301 posts

Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why

#201
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you are going a long way, it may well be faster to drive. For me: 1 hour drive to the airport, 1+ hours at the airport for check-in, security, etc, 1 hour at destination to retrieve baggage, get a rental car, and get out of the airport... plus the time of the flight. If I can drive in under 6 hours, I'll seriously consider doing that rather than deal with all the hassle of air travel.

Except that if you drive for 6 hours, you can't talk on the phone and you can't use your laptop. Your point doesn't make sense to me: if you're willing to drive for 6 hours, you're also willing to stop working during all that time, while if you flight you'll always find some time to work, at the terminal or in the plane.

If driving you can talk on the phone for the whole 6 hours. I did something similar at least once.

Also, the driver can't use a laptop, but because of the driving activity itself, the driver is not so easily bored. Boredom is the main reason why I power on my laptop on a plane. Also, the other passengers can easily work on a laptop, watch a movie and so on. If you've got a 3G connection, the passengers can also go online - even I as the driven, I often find myself checking my emails while driving, plus I'm connected on Skype for the whole ride. The only problem here may be the comfort of your car, as you'll have problems having a laptop in your lap if the car is a small one. I also never get anything done on a plane when trying to work, especially because I don't have Internet connectivity, so I would rather listen to Podcasts or read a book and when driving Audio books are great btw.

So, related to comfort, I always prefer a couple of hours in my 10-year old Audi A6 over a plane ride. If the car ride is longer than some threshold, like the mentioned 6 hours, I do agree that a plane ride is better.

Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why

#202
post #163

If airplanes were vulnerable to radio frequencies, then terrorists have no need to acquire SAMs. A nice powerful amateur radio should do much better.

Avionics systems are better shielded against external interference than they are against internal interference.

Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why

#203
post #8

There 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…

That may be a good reason to tell passengers to avoid using a laptop, for example. But a kindle? What's the difference between reading a kindle and reading a paper book in terms of "emergency preparedness"? Absolutely nothing.

Also, you're just inventing reasons out of thin air. This is not the reason why the FAA has such restrictions. The reason is that it is very difficult to test a plane as being immune to interference from every single possible handheld consumer electronic device, and it would be too complicated to enforce a selective ban.

Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why

#204
post #8

There 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…

If electrical devices can be used to bring down a plane, why am I not being stopped from bringing them onto the plane?

My 500 ml bottle of water is strictly forbidden.

Couldn't a terrorist could come equipped with a collection of gameboys and tamagotchis to bring the plane down?

Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why

#205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The FAA/TSA alway justify things in terms of "safety" and "security", but never calculate the massive costs associated with seizing billions in toiletries and productivity. Let's calculate that. There are about 800 million[0] passengers on domestic and foreign owned airlines in the US market, with many people flying more than once per year. Each person is taxed between 1-2 hours in terms of "safety" regulations, rang…

Lets say we use an average of 15 minutes for a person to go to the toilet. This includes getting to and from the toilet etc. For ease of calculation we say that each person goes to the toilet twice during a workday. And there are roughly 7 billion people on the planet. That gives us 0.5 hour per person per day * 7 billion people = 3.5 billion wasted hours. At a conservative estimate of $10 per hours, that's $35 billi…

It's clear that I get benefits from going to the toilet. I'm not so sure about the TSA.

Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why

#206
post #11

MythBusters 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_...

Wait, what? Don't all radio devices always get tested by the FCC before they are approved for sale?

I'm sure they could test airplanes to never be influenced by, say, a sub 2 Watt signal and certify cellphones of never exceeding 2 Watts of signal power.

Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why

#207
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand how planes are seizing productivity when the nearest competitor -- an illegally driven car -- is about 5 times slower. Yes they have quite a bit of overhead during take off, landing, baggage claim, driving to the airport, security screening, etc. But what else can reduce a trip's time from days to hours? The amount of time wasted in that overhead compared to the time gained is minuscule.

In other parts of the world their are trains, which are faster than cars and provide tables and often electricity and wifi, making them a pretty compelling substitute.

There's a lot of empty space in between the West and the East, which is where plane travel is the most compelling, and train travel would still likely not be.

Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why

#209
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that if you drive for 6 hours, you can't talk on the phone and you can't use your laptop. Your point doesn't make sense to me: if you're willing to drive for 6 hours, you're also willing to stop working during all that time, while if you flight you'll always find some time to work, at the terminal or in the plane.

If driving you can talk on the phone for the whole 6 hours. I did something similar at least once. Also, the driver can't use a laptop, but because of the driving activity itself, the driver is not so easily bored. Boredom is the main reason why I power on my laptop on a plane. Also, the other passengers can easily work on a laptop, watch a movie and so on. If you've got a 3G connection, the passengers can also go on…

Change your name to "bad_driver" already.

Re: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why

#210
post #8

There 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…

Also, these 15 objects will in the event of an emergency become flying objects bouncing around the cabin.
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