FYI: Pilots, especially those of light aircraft, don't use their fuel guages the way you use the one in your car. My fuel guage could read just about anything and I wouldnt' be freaking out because I knew, before I took off, how much fuel I had on board and how much I burn per hour. This is just basic PPL stuff. Most GA fuel guages don't read accurately anyway. Mine read 1/4 when the tanks are about 1/2. Most instruments critical to flight aren't subject to this kind of interference anyway:
These are all mechanical in nature. GPS and nav radios are another story, but it's not likely that a malfunction of either is going to cause an accident in VFR conditions. Besides, IFR certified GPS are required to have RAIM which would most likely be out if your phone were interfering with your GPS. My Apollo CNX80 used to report RAIM outages over Quantico, VA until a recent software update. They are VERY picky about signal integrity and the slightest disagreement between sats will cause them to flag.
Just as a disclaimer, YMMV in an A330. I'm sure that large commercial aircraft with integrated flight directors/fms/etc are subject to more problems from interference. Plus, it's not as easy for a pilot to understand the systems of a more complex aircraft/avionics suite and determine what's safe and what's not. I wouldn't hop in even a Malibu Meridian and casually allow my passengers to use a cell phone when I was expecting enroute IMC either.
I doubt that we are talking about a terribly complex set of radios. Don't worry about Cringely, I'm sure he'll be fine.
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FYI: Pilots, especially those of light aircraft, don't use their fuel guages the way you use the one in your car. My fuel guage could read just about anything and I wouldnt' be freaking out because I knew, before I took off, how much fuel I had on board and how much I burn per hour. This is just basic PPL stuff. Most GA fuel guages don't read accurately anyway. Mine read 1/4 when the tanks are about 1/2. Most instruments critical to flight aren't subject to this kind of interference anyway:
Altimiter: barometric pressure
Attitude Indicator: Vac/gyro
Directional Gyro: Vac/gyro
Turn coordinator: Electric gyro
Airspeed: Pitot/static pressure
VSI: static pressure
These are all mechanical in nature. GPS and nav radios are another story, but it's not likely that a malfunction of either is going to cause an accident in VFR conditions. Besides, IFR certified GPS are required to have RAIM which would most likely be out if your phone were interfering with your GPS. My Apollo CNX80 used to report RAIM outages over Quantico, VA until a recent software update. They are VERY picky about signal integrity and the slightest disagreement between sats will cause them to flag.
Just as a disclaimer, YMMV in an A330. I'm sure that large commercial aircraft with integrated flight directors/fms/etc are subject to more problems from interference. Plus, it's not as easy for a pilot to understand the systems of a more complex aircraft/avionics suite and determine what's safe and what's not. I wouldn't hop in even a Malibu Meridian and casually allow my passengers to use a cell phone when I was expecting enroute IMC either.
I doubt that we are talking about a terribly complex set of radios. Don't worry about Cringely, I'm sure he'll be fine.