Quote:
Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom
I said no, we will crash! He told me that was bull#$%, and to call his parents.
|
I endorse
Harry's #9 comment.
Dozens of people using all sorts of devices for the whole flight isn't the same as you calling his parents. If as soon as the call connected some instrument gave a strange reading, he could have asked you to hang up.
No question that the risk is small. And the risk isn't that it would crash the plane, but that some instrument would misread. This is only critical if it happens at the same time ten other things are going wrong.
Air safety is all about one in a million, or one in a hundred million, combinations of events.
As for making an exception for known safe devices, the problem is that a lot of people are already half-inclined to defy the regulation. Those sort of people will feel put upon if they see someone else using a favored device while their own is forbidden. Then you get some combination of surreptitious evasion and angry confrontation. If it gets to be a bad enough confrontation, the cabin crew informs the flight crew, causing distraction.