Quote:
Originally Posted by ProfCrash
My point? It is really hard for me to take a rule seriously when there is more and more mounting evidence that there is no danger from using these devices. I turn off my cell phone and the 3G/Wifi on my Kindle while flying. The amount of electricity used to turn the page on my e-ink reader is miniscule, which is one reason why the batteries last so bloody long on the thing.
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 truth is that they want devices off so that people are paying attention during take off and landing because those are the most dangerous time in flight. So when you tell the people with the big honking paper backs to put those away, I will put away my book. Until then, I will put away my e-reader until the Flight Attendents are seated and then pull out my book and read.
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I'm with you. I hold it in my lap through the last cabin check and go back to reading when the flight attendants are seated. I think that people are less likely to follow rules if they have doubts about whether the rules are necessary. The corollary to this is that people are much more likely to follow the rules when they understand the risk and the rules make sense.
And HarryT, it's not just a few minutes at the beginning and end of the flight. It's all the time it takes to taxi from the gate, get in line behind the other jets, and wait until time to take off. After all of that, it's about five minutes. At a busy airport, that can be an hour.