First Cellphone Use On Airplane Given OK

s31523 writes "With over 1 billion cell phone users worldwide, and with so many business travelers, using the cell phone on the airplane has been a recent hot topic. Emirate airlines is announcing they will give the OK for cell phone use on their planes, making them the first airline to do so. The FCC and FAA still ban the use, but are working to determine safety implications, if any."

Good news for Bose

[wbean]

Sounds like good news for Bose; there are going to be a lot of people buying those noise-cancelling earphones.

If flying wasn't bad enough

[tulmad]

Because if being crammed into coach wasn't bad enough, now you can be crammed into coach next to some asshat having a loud conversation on his phone for the entire flight. Sounds like a damn good time!

Considering the way. . .

[smooth wombat]

the vast majority of people drive while on the phone, I don't think I'd want to be on a plane with a pilot who's on his cel phone the whole time.

Oh, you meant the passengers. I'll pass. I really don't need to have an entire flight filled with, "Guess where I'm at! Yeah, it's great! I can finally use my phone to call you from somewhere over [insert country/state/territory/ocean/whatever]. So how are things going? You get that urine problem taken care of."

Health and safety issues

[ShadowEFX]

I hope one of the health and safety issues they look in to is the effect a cell phone has on a trachea when forcefully inserted by an enraged passenger tired of hearing the unfortunate cell user blather for five continuous hours...

Does it mean...

[ifchairscouldtalk]

... that I can play Snake on a plane now?

Time of the loud mouth jackass begins in the air

[Secret Rabbit]

We have all be subjected to the loud mouth jackass before. You know, the one that answers his/her phone in a restaurant and basically yells so that everyone can see/hear how important they are. Now the one save place we have from these people is going away.

Perhaps we can convince the airlines to make the engine noise louder to drown them out.

Re:To those confused

[Anonymous Coward]

To quote Yoda:
"If yakking on his phone for 5 hours he is, yak at you for 5 hours he will not."

Re:Counting down...

[Hoi Polloi]

I doubt it. After being readied by your pleasant trip through security where you begged for your insulin back, the comfort of flying with your knees crushed into the back of the seat in front of you while a kid kicks the back of your seat will sooth your troubled soul. And if that isn't enough you can eat your bag of pretzles (only on select flights) on your tiny tray. Then you can join the 10 person long line to the toilet only to get to the front in time to be ordered by the flight attendant to get back to the your seat because they'll be landing in 1 hour.

No, I see no passengers being bothered by this.

Re:To those confused

[noidentity]

Airlines are installing cellphone tower equipment into their plane to eliminate this problem.

Next problem: how to deal with a hundred foot tall cell tower sticking out of the top of the plane.

Re:Anybody Try to use one on a plane?

[Cauchy]

And the planes still managed to find their way to their destinations/target. Didn't seem to interfere with the navigation systems.

Re:To those confused

[eln]

Well I hope they've at least solved the problem of autopilots deflating while in flight. Or, at the very least, I hope they've moved the air intake nozzle somewhere other than the belt buckle. After all, you can't smoke on planes anymore.

Oh the humanity!

[k2dbk]

The last bastion of semi-peace and quiet is gone.

Assuming that your definition of peace and quiet includes high-volume white noise and even higher-volume crying babies.

Re:Can we keep it banned?

[soft_guy]

When the President is flying coach on Delta, we'll take your point seriously.

Would this qualify as torture?

[Anonymous Coward]

It occurs to me that cramming someone into a coach window seat and subjecting them to loud random phone calls for hours on end would qualify as torture.

Re:Health and safety issues

[Brett Buck]

>I hope one of the health and safety issues they look
>in to is the effect a cell phone has on a trachea
>when forcefully inserted

      Trachea?

      Brett

New reality show

[DreamingReal]

"What do you get when you sit 120 people in seats designed for Erkel for 4 hours with 2 bathrooms, no smoking, available alcohol, and constant cell phone use?

Aluminum-Tube Deathmatch at 36,000 Feet!

Premiering this July on SPIKE TV!"

Re:Keep the ban for the sake of quiet

[WormholeFiend]

I'd *much* rather listen to cellphone chatter than high-pitched informationless shrieking.

How do you know those babies arent trying to communicate something about the bad airline food, the moran pushing/kicking on the back of the seat, someone's B.O./fart wafting through the cabin, etc.

First you will hear this really stupid tune

[nephridium]

Then you will witness an endless flow of words that apparently just won't ebb down: "Yea, hello? Hello? Hello? Yea, can you hear me? Hello? Can you.. Yea. I can hear you. Yea, the reception is lousy. The reception. The RECEPTION. RECEPTION. Yea. Uh-huh. Yep. Yea, I'm in the airplane now. We can now make calls from the plane, ain't that great? Yea, we took off just a couple of minutes ago. We TOOK OFF. Yea, I'm actually calling you from the sky, I'm like god, except that I have a better ring tone [hysterical giggle]. Ah, nice we're getting dinner now [makes hand movement to stewardess (inquiring about his culinary preferences) indicating he's in an important conversation]. Yea. Yep. No, haven't eating for hours, it's great that they serve dinner now, I'm starving. How's the dog? [...]"

A man was brutally killed yesterday aboard flight AA322. Police reports indicate there was no connection to a terrorist plot. According to an eye witness "he was just a really, really annoying guy with a cell phone."

Re:To those confused

[ari_j]

I was looking for your comment - I would have posted the same thing (maybe in a bit less friendly tone). There are already enough things on planes that piss me off without the addition of 200 people loudly asking "Can you hear me now?" for the entire flight. In a similar vein, I have started a practice of turning in all unattended bags in the gate area to airport security. Most unattended bags are left by annoying people in the first place, so having those people miss their flight because they failed to heed the repeated warnings about leaving their bags unattended has a positive effect on my flight. ;)

Next year's blockbuster

[SmlFreshwaterBuffalo]

Coming next summer: "Cellphones On A Plane!"

Re:The Problem with Microwave Band Signals...

[Anonymous Coward]

Does the TV talk to you alone?

Re:Health and safety issues

[OldeTimeGeek]

I'd rather the make the offending caller use a Cone of Silence [wikipedia.org]

Re:I'll be happy when they allow 'other' things

[winkydink]

I wish you would be allowed to sleep completely flat (as in a bunk like a ship would be good enough for me). Would be great for trans-atlantic flights. I fly quite frequently and changing hours, planes and means of transport make me kinda tired. The average flight is 18 hours, with delays 24 hours of eyes-wide-open travelling fun.

Most airlines provide this on long-hauls. It's called First Class.

I also wish they would allow you to have sex on an airplane. Might not be for all Slashdotters, but as a frequent member of the High Mile Club,...

Beating off in the head doesn't get you into the Mile High Club.

Re:First you will hear this really stupid tune

[noidentity]

And oddly, nobody on the plane saw who killed him. "He just died suddenly. I'm not sure what happened. All I remember is that I had this sudden feeling of peace and only later realized that someone had died."

Re:To those confused

[ari_j]

I have a cell phone. I am rarely without it. I have in the past carried up to three phones. That doesn't change my feeling that they should not be allowed in planes any more than smoking still is. As to the annoying people in the gate area who do not leave their bags unattended, I haven't figured out a way to get them left behind short of the rapture. If you know a way, post it here. Thanks!

Re:To those confused

[aevan]

It's all about distance.

You see on a landphone you are connected to the person you're talking to over a wire, no problem.

On a cell phone, you have to go thru the air first to the tower, and from there it goes thru a line to the other person. Because of that distance, you have to speak louder (c.f. shouting across the street). I'm assuming you are not the person being called, but in the presence of the cell phone user and hence your confusion about his volume. Rest assured on the other end his volume is just adequate.

*Basing this on a coworker who I've noted talks louder depending on how far away the person is he's calling...inside the same building, over the same internal lines. >.