Unfortunately, even if the IFE isn't connected to the avionics, bad things can still happen. *Very* bad things. I managed a project a few years back to design and build the front end to an existing IFE hardware system. The front end was really cool - multiplayer games, gambling, the usual movies and music, in-flight commerce, and much more, wrapped in a gorgeous and highly usable UI. Almost 10 years later, the IFE systems deployed today aren't much better, and in many cases are a lot worse, which surprises me. If I recall correctly, though, the hardware folks (a completely separate company) installed the hardware into the aircraft in a less-than-ideal way, and it ended up causing a fire that brought down the aircraft. D'oh.
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Unfortunately, even if the IFE isn't connected to the avionics, bad things can still happen. *Very* bad things. I managed a project a few years back to design and build the front end to an existing IFE hardware system. The front end was really cool - multiplayer games, gambling, the usual movies and music, in-flight commerce, and much more, wrapped in a gorgeous and highly usable UI. Almost 10 years later, the IFE systems deployed today aren't much better, and in many cases are a lot worse, which surprises me. If I recall correctly, though, the hardware folks (a completely separate company) installed the hardware into the aircraft in a less-than-ideal way, and it ended up causing a fire that brought down the aircraft. D'oh.