NYT story: Possible risks when electronics aren't turned off during flights

[Maggie Leung]

Given previous threads, this story might be of interest:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/bu...vices.html?hpw

[SlowRain]

Thanks. I'm flying later this week with my Galaxy S, so this is good to know.

[WillAdams]

Given the danger a small, dense object represents in an accident, that alone is sufficient reason to require that people put the things away.

For those who feel that hardcover books represent a similar danger, try the following experiment:

- take an open hardcover book, throw it as hard as you can at a wall 6' away, observe the size of the dent (if any) which it makes
- repeat that w/ some small electronic device, compare the relative size of the damage

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=128062&page=1

William

[Worldwalker]

And yet small children can be held on their parents' laps, rather than having to have their own seats. I'd much rather be hit by an ebook reader than by a flying baby!

[WillAdams]

Me too, for the child's sake, but there are far fewer children on flights than electronic devices (and there is a push for people to purchase seats for their children and belt them in).

William

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

Given the danger a small, dense object represents in an accident, that alone is sufficient reason to require that people put the things away.

For those who feel that hardcover books represent a similar danger, try the following experiment:

- take an open hardcover book, throw it as hard as you can at a wall 6' away, observe the size of the dent (if any) which it makes
- repeat that w/ some small electronic device, compare the relative size of the damage

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=128062&page=1

William

I'm not going to start throwing any of my edevices around. I have however been hit with a hardback book and received a black eye from it

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

And yet small children can be held on their parents' laps, rather than having to have their own seats.

Yes, but such child has extra safety belt that ties it to the safety belt of a parent. I have seen it in Czech Airlines airplane. The arrangement is made in such a way that baby ISN'T placed between parent and her safety belt.

[elemenoP]

US domestic flights have no special belt for the lap child. And I think it's not even allowed to buckle your child in with you, you have buckle yourself only and then hold the child. (is that right? I always bought a seat for my child.)

Very eye-opening article!

eP

[kacir]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

And I think it's not even allowed to buckle your child in with you, you have buckle yourself only and then hold the child. (is that right? I always bought a seat for my child.)

Imagine what would happen to a child if it was buckled between you and a safety belt during crash. You would squish the child with your weight.

[tubemonkey]

If this were truly a problem, edevices would be banned.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

US domestic flights have no special belt for the lap child. And I think it's not even allowed to buckle your child in with you, you have buckle yourself only and then hold the child. (is that right? I always bought a seat for my child.)

Very eye-opening article!

eP

some years ago when I flew with my one month + one day old child from the States to Germany, she had her own seat but I was expected to hold her during take off and landing as well as if there was excessive turbulence

[Sydney's Mom]

Interesting story - thanks for posting.

[gollu]

What a crap of an article. Scaring out people seems like an established practice for the press.
Let me site a few gems from there:

In 2007, one pilot recounted an instance when the navigational equipment on his Boeing 737 had failed after takeoff. A flight attendant told a passenger to turn off a hand-held GPS device and the problem on the flight deck went away.

That surely proves e. devices are dangerous. Very scientific indeed.

Since 2000, there have been at least 10 voluntary reports filed by pilots in the United States with the Aviation Safety Reporting System, administered by NASA.

10 reports based on 6th sense are surely important, especially if we consider the number of flights in the last 10 years - only a few hundred million flights (and in figures now - more than 100,000,000 flights).

I am far more concerned about Martians knocking on my door and then blasting me with a laser gun, than the apple ifan sitting next to me on a flight and playing Angry Birds.

[derangedhermit]

In a conversation around 2000, I was told by knowledgeable personnel at one of the two major A/C manufacturers that under specific circumstances, with specific mobile phones and computer accessories, on a specific series of aircraft, the response of some control surfaces to pilot inputs became demonstrably, repeatably erratic (not failed, but erratic) due to interference from the mobile phones or PC accessory. They went into some detail. I believed them.

The problem had been identified and fixed in new manufacturing by then. They instituted an upgraded interference testing program as a result. I can't imagine the other manufacturer has not found the same, and done the same.

I think the main reason that the mobile operators support having the phones turned off below 10,000 feet is because the phones can often be picked up by the base stations (the cell towers) on the ground. The mobile networks are not engineered to handle phones moving at 350-400 mph, although calls often go through and stay up, at least for a while.

[twowheels]

Since electromagnetic fields fall off as an inverse square of distance this isn't really relevant from my economy seat to the cockpit, but cell phones can cause some significant interference. In meetings I can often tell when a cell phone is about to ring due to the sounds that start coming out of the conference room's speakerphone... I've also had the experience (many times) of putting my cell phone and electric shaver together in the center console in my car and having my shaver start spinning randomly in short bursts from the cell phone's transmissions.