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Comments     Threshold


Common sense.
By Gunbuster on 3/25/2013 3:26:27 PM , Rating: 5
If having electronics turned on posed any real risk they would not have an operating procedure that is 100% comprised of having 5 employees walk down an isle of 600 people, eyeball it, and then say we’re good.

RE: Common sense.
By jjlj on 3/25/2013 3:28:27 PM , Rating: 3
Plus 1, lol.

RE: Common sense.
By 3DoubleD on 3/25/2013 3:49:37 PM , Rating: 2
I've always thought most of the fuss was more about having heavy, hard, loose objects flying through the passenger compartment during the unlikely event of a malfunction during landing and takeoff. It is during these times mechanical failure is most likely.

A sudden change in altitude or other abrupt acceleration could send whatever is in your hands flying. I'd rather be hit by a newspaper, magazine, or book than a tablet or laptop (although I guess that would somewhat depend on the book! - beware of flying textbooks).

But it is true, they use the honor system when it comes to disabling any wireless communications, so it mustn't be an urgent issue. You'd also think that if a cell phone could generate a strong enough signal to cause a problem, planes would be prone to frequent malfunctions from all sorts of radio signals from both terrestrial and extra-terrestrial sources.

There is also the argument that they want your full attention during take-off and landing. If you have headphones in, you might miss an important announcement... but if the plane is going down... you'd probably notice even with headphones in. They also have no problem with people sleeping during take-off or landing. If they needed you to be alert then they'd wake everyone up.

RE: Common sense.
By Rukkian on 3/25/2013 5:16:00 PM , Rating: 2
I guess pretty much any hardcover is at least as bad as most tablets.

The issue that this now brings up - since they are saying tablets are okay, but cell phones are not, who decides which is which? There are 5.5" Phablets, with reports of 6+" phones on the horizon. Is this okay? What about an ipod touch (not a phone)? Will the attendants now have to go around measuring screens?

RE: Common sense.
By GreenEnvt on 3/26/2013 6:42:21 AM , Rating: 2
I agree, though it seems the devices can do something the pilots can notice though. A few years ago I was on a plane coming into Sao Paulo, Brazil. A guy a couple seats over turned on his phone as we were descending. Within 30 seconds the captain came on the PA in an angry voice and said "Whoever just turned on a cell phone turn it off! we're trying to land the plane!"

No idea how he knew. The attendants were all seated for landing already, so I'd assume it must have caused some sort of interference on some equipment.

RE: Common sense.
By Dorkyman on 3/26/2013 12:15:40 PM , Rating: 2
No studies have EVER shown interference. Mythbusters couldn't find a connection either. Avionics have excellent shielding.

I expect that probably 50% of smartphone users don't bother to either turn their phones off or put them in airplane mode. So the cabin is full of fully-operational devices. And still no issues.

No, I have to conclude it's nothing more than a control issue.

RE: Common sense.
By marvdmartian on 3/26/2013 10:47:44 AM , Rating: 2
I can't tell you how many times I've seen people, as the flight attendant make the "turn off all electronic devices" annoucement, simply turn their devices, inluding cell phones, to standby, versus turning them all the way off. And, so far, we're okay, since none of those planes crashed.

I believe the phones they need to worry about are the older (read: DINOSAUR) models, that emit more than recent models do. In other words, like the phone I carry, and ensure is turned all the way off, when flying! LOL

