FAA May Let You Use Electronic Devices During Airplane Takeoff and Landing Soon 166
colinneagle writes "Members of an FAA advisory panel are reportedly meeting this week to make changes to the ban on the use of electronic devices on an airplane during takeoff and landing. The new regulations will allow the use of electronic devices to access content stored on the devices, including e-books, music, podcasts, and video. Sending emails, connecting to Wi-Fi, and making phone calls will still be prohibited. The announcement is expected to be made later this month, and the rules put into effect next year, according to the report."
Re:Burden of enforcement (Score:5, Informative)
There are a few instances where they have found the specific piece of electronics that were causing problems, and in some cases purchased it from the passenger.
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_10/interfere_textonly.html [boeing.com]
Funny thing, all the cases of problems caused weren't cell phones.
Farther down the page, they discuss cell phones. They do put out more noise on critical frequencies, sometimes over what the FAA permits for the aircraft itself. In testing, none actually caused problems.
Re:Burden of enforcement (Score:0, Informative)
I hope she doesn't also ignore the cabin crew when they tell her to brace. Honestly, some people almost deserve a fiery death in a plane crash. Since the overwhelming majority of crashes take place on take-off and landing, I recommend everyone pay a little attention to their surroundings during the ten minutes or so of these procedures, especially if they are travelling with kids.