FAA Pushed To Review Ban On Electronics

First time accepted submitter sfm writes "Ever tangle with a grumpy flight attendant over turning off your Kindle Fire before takeoff? This may change if the FAA reviews their policy for these devices. The FAA is under extreme pressure to either change the rules or give a good reason to keep them in place. From the article: 'According to people who work with an industry working group that the Federal Aviation Administration set up last year to study the use of portable electronics on planes, the agency hopes to announce by the end of this year that it will relax the rules for reading devices during takeoff and landing. The change would not include cellphones.'"

Comments

Avionics

[Anonymous Coward]

As someone who works with Comm/Nav systems for aircraft, let me be the firs to say:

Good. Nothing you have in your possession is going to adversely effect any of the systems used for take off and landing. These rules are stupid and were based on the fear of the unknown instead of actual studies and evidence.

Re:Avionics

[alen]

you must not understand how the media works

if a high profile crash takes place, the media hounds start looking for blame. anyone who works for the government knows to COVER YOUR ASS all the time otherwise the media hounds will call for your head on the slimmest bit of evidence

like when hurricane katrina hit and the idiot reporters were blaming bush based on a fictional book of a hurricane hitting the area. not that i liked bush, but...

Re:Avionics

[Alioth]

Well you're (slightly) wrong.

I was flying with a friend - it was his first time flying a real approach in real weather (and at night too!) - who had forgot to turn his phone off. ATC cleared us to intercept the localizer, and just at that moment, all audio from the comm radio was completely obliterated by "B-B BIP B BIP B BIP B BIP B BIP BRRRRRRRR" (if you've ever owned a GSM phone you'll be depressingly familiar with the noise - it interferes with pretty much any audio equipment) as his wife phoned him.

Fortunately, I was still instrument current at the time and could continue to fly the approach while he desperately fished in his clothing to find his phone (which is surprisingly complicated in the tight confines of a Grumman AA5A at night) to shut the damned thing off.

Of course, the loc/glideslope receivers were not affected (they continued to work absolutely normally) but if ATC had tried to say anything to us while the phone was ringing, we wouldn't have heard it. We could barely hear each other over the intercom with this racket going on in our headsets. The issue here isn't really the interference with the electronics, but rather the distraction it causes, and it's not optimal to be distracted while on an instrument approach.

Re:Avionics

[Joce640k]

These rules are stupid and were based on the fear of the unknown instead of actual studies and evidence.

The "unknown" is precisely what the rules are in place for. You can't expect cabin attendants to know every possible electronic gadget, what it can do and what might be connected to it via that wire leading to your pocket. The only sensible policy in this situation is to switch off all electronic items during critical phases of the flight. Either that or confiscate all electronic items at the boarding gate.

Re:Avionics

[cwebster]

As someone who works in front of the door that says "Authorized Personnel Only" on airplanes, let me throw my 2 cents in.

The only interference I've personally experienced is that infamous noise TDMA and GSM phones make when transmitting data. I could hear the interference anytime myself, my copilot, the flight attendant or anyone in the first 3 rows of the airplane left a phone on and I had the crew audio selected on my audio panel. No effect on the com or nav radios.

The real reason for the ban on portable electronic devices (the cell phone ban dates back to an FCC reg on the adverse effect of having an old-school cell phone at altitude where it could see many towers) is not to protect against interference, it is to protect lives in case of evacuation. If a plane is going to have a survivable accident it is very likely this will occur as a botched takeoff or botched landing, and in these cases you have on the order of a hundred of seconds to get out of the plane before you cook in the fire or succumb to the smoke. Personally I think that people can close a laptop and get up and out of a plane, but past accidents suggest that people will instead close that laptop, attempt to retrieve its case/bag, put it away and perhaps get other bags out of the overhead before evacuating a burning airplane (see the air france overrun in canada a few years back). This is more of a problem with peoples mindset when it comes to protecting property when faced with certain loss, but I think that needs to be addressed before we lift the ban on portable electronics below 10k' .

Re:Avionics

[UnknowingFool]

I don't know about reporters blaming Bush but they were asking the obvious questions like: "Why the administration not prepared for the aftermath?" "What assessments did the administration have on damage and aftermath?" "Where as the federal assistance?". The last time I checked the president is the head of the administration.

Part of the problem was that Bush appointed an wholly unqualified Michael Brown as head of FEMA. Nothing in his background hinted that he could handle a federal agency much less one dedicated to disaster recovery. One of Bush's personal traits is unquestioning loyalty. And he would place this above competency and qualifications when selecting someone for a post. This would appear again when different members were found to be inept, unqualified, or may have committed illegal acts. He would always back them up rather take a hard look at whether he had appointed the right person for the job.

Also part of the problem was the administration on the whole felt that FEMA was an entitlement program and worked for years to weaken its role in the federal government. The state and local governments are not blameless either as they were ill prepared as well.

Book aside, a full year before Katrina. FEMA did a case study of what would happen if a Cat 3 hurricane would hit New Orleans. It projected extensive damage and casualties. Michael Brown was in charge of the study. Look up the hurricane Pam exercise. The result of the study should have been recommendations about how to avoid or mediate the aftermath. Instead funding was cut because it was an "entitlement" program.

Part of my dislike for Bush was that he can't be bothered with details. As president I think that this is part of the job. About a day before the storm hit, he was fully briefed on the projections (there is a video of this) and the projections were close to reality. He left it to his underlings and went on vacation.

Headphones

[PPH]

I have a set of Bose noise canceling headphones. These things are great for filtering out cabin noise. In addition, they make the entertainment system and the PA system much easier to hear over the screaming of nearby children.

However, I am required to turn them off during takeoff and landing. Not take them off, but turn their power off. They have a little green LED which gives away their powered status*. So now, I can't hear the PA system and safety instructions. How about allowing the use of these as long as they are plugged into the cabin entertainment system during takeoff and landing?

*I suppose I could just put a piece of electrical tape over the LED.

Staten Island

[Picass0]

I'm sure the good people of New York will tell you Obama learned from Bush's mistakes and was careful to have a more coordinated response when a major hurricane happened on his watch. The people of Staten Island were well cared for in a timely manner in spite of the pressures of election day politics.

Oh, wait...

.

Re:The cellphone ban is overreaching, too

[jittles]

One time I was flying on American and I was in the very last row of the plane (booked last minute). The flight attendant came up to me and asked me if she could put an unaccompanied minor next to me during the flight. She asked if I could just keep an eye out for him, and make sure he didn't disappear on the flight. I said it was no problem. When they closed the cabin doors and asked people to turn their devices off, he neglected to do so. He was still texting who knows who when the flight attendant made it back to us for the safety check. She gave me the worst tongue lashing ever because I didn't make the kid put his cell phone away. I am not his father, I am not there to tell the kid what to do. She can do that. Why she thought it was up to me to make sure the kid followed the rules is beyond me. She threatened to kick me off the flight for that. It was ridiculous. I'm not a big fan of the cell phone ban either.

Not worth the risk..

[Anonymous Coward]

I am a pilot and a flight instructor. I generally thought this was an unnecessary rule when I began flying.

Until, testing the rule, a fellow pilot made a call on his cell phone from the right seat and the compass turned 30 degrees off course.

More advanced aircraft use flux gates positioned in the wings and tail (great scott! they look like a flux capacitor) to determine magnetic heading. The position is intentional as it keeps the devices away from other electronic interference.

One cell phone on a 737 probably won't affect any of these instruments. Ten, probably not. But 100 passengers all trying to finish downloading a copy of Twilight: New Moon on their iPads before they lose 4G on takeoff? I wouldn't risk it.

Aeronautical risk management is about minimizing as many factors as possible, however small and seemingly inconsequential . Commercial air travel has a safety record better than all other forms of transportation, so disconnect from your electronics for ten whole minutes and let's keep it that way.