[JoeD]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

WiFi is now offered on planes and many passangers are using it. We have yet to hear of a plane crashing because of the use of WiFi inflight.

That particular wifi device much like the inbuild flight entertainment systems are specifically tested for causing interference with the particular model of plane they're installed on.

Any device which has passed those tests can be used safely.

However, how can cabin crew be expected to know which devices passengers use have or have not been tested? They can't, so it's easy to just have a blanket ban during the most dangerous part of a flight.

Point me to one case where a plane crashed because a planeful of people continued to listen to their IPods, use their noise reduction head sets, and read on their e-readers, netbooks, or tablets.

You can't.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority found electromagnetic signals emitted by phones can produce 'errors' on instrument displays and noise on pilot radios.

Blase: passengers don't think their devices will affect the plane

It received 35 safety alerts blamed on phones over six years.

Phone interference was cited as a possible factor in a 2003 crash in New Zealand in which eight people died after the plane flew into the ground short of the runway.

The pilot had been calling home.

And in 2007, the navigational equipment of a Boeing 737 in the U.S. failed after take off, only to reactivate after a passenger was told to turn off a sat-nav.

David Carson, an engineer with Boeing, stressed that problems do not occur in every case.

'And that's good,' he said.

Warning against complacency, he told the New York Times: 'It's bad in that people assume it never will.'

Emphasis mine.

It's unlikely you'll find a case that is 100% down to an electronic device interfering and causing a crash, because crashes are usually never down to one specific incident but a culmination of events where any one part not occurring could have averted the accident.

There is evidence for and against the use of electronic devices on planes. Especially with planes been designed to avoid interference from electronic devices. Some will not cause any interference and I hope in time a way is found to certify devices for use on a plane and that airlines can find a way to police that. Then we can all be happy.

Also, as extra info on the 2003 crash, as the above quote makes it sound like the pilot was on the phone at the time of the crash rather than flying the plane, he wasn't but the phone was still active.

The report can be found here

Now it's a stretch of an example as the pilots device was _MUCH_ closer to the electronics than any passengers device likely would be and it wasn't the sole reason for the crash, nor the most probable (despite what the news paper reports at the time would have people believe) as mentioned there's usually many events that lead to a crash and the papers wanted to run a panic story about phones bringing planes out of the sky (as they try to do with pretty much any story they can)

Going back to passenger devices, I still believe the chance of interference very slim from devices like kindles and ipads, but it's not my call, nor my plane and in that regard I think whilst the rules are in-place we should follow them.

Also whilst there remains a slim chance of interference during the most critical parts of flight (take-off/landing) where pilots have next to no time to react/troubleshoot, we should do what we can to minimise risk even if it means a slight inconvenience of not reading or listening to your music for 30 minutes. Now if kindles and iPads can be certified as safe for use during that part of flight, it's a different matter.

Edit: More food for thought