Petition to allow ereaders to be used at all times during flight

[jbjb]

Originally Posted by Bricorn

I was on a long haul flight last week. A group of 4 in front of me used their smartphones all through take-off, the flight, and landing (online and texting, not calls). They were crew deadheading back to base, the working crew chatted to them, but not a word about phone use.

If they saw no risk................

That's all fine then - cabin crew are clearly all qualified avionics engineers with an excellent understanding of RF interference and associated risk.

/JB

[JDK1962]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

On one flight, I was told to put away my knitting. The flight attendent said she had been poked with knitting needles before (her own?). I said having a type A personality sitting there with nothing to do was more of a concern. Someone handed me a magazine.

How asinine. My knitting needles are in my lap. If she is worried about them flying around in the case of a crash, there are lots of worse things to ban. Purses?

This was a Homeland Security thing. They were afraid you'd knit an Afghan.

On one flight, they took away my ruler, compass, protractor. Something about prohibitions on Weapons of Math Instruction.

[whitearrow]

I think what most people would really like to see is a little logical consistency.

If attention is the issue, everything should be put away -- whether it's a Kindle or a magazine. If it's okay to be reading, but not, say, listening to headphones, then that should be the rule -- it shouldn't matter what you are reading.

If projectiles are the issue, then everything over a certain weight should be put away -- magazines ok, but hardcover books are not. If hardcover books are ok, why aren't ereaders, which weigh significantly less?

If radio emissions are the issue, then why aren't they actually checking devices to make sure they're off?

The current rules just don't make much sense, and people are less likely to respect rules they regard as illogical or silly.

[elemenoP]

George Takai can do what he likes, I don't mind. However, I would prefer that my Congresspeople spend their time on more important matters.

eP

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by whitearrow

If radio emissions are the issue, then why aren't they actually checking devices to make sure they're off?

The current rules just don't make much sense, and people are less likely to respect rules they regard as illogical or silly.

If they delayed takeoffs to get from the current, say, 98 percent compliance, to closer to 99 percent compliance, couldn't disrespect rise even more?

You wouldn't, I hope, want to hold up the plane because two cabin lights are out. But if ten are out, there is more possibility of a safety issue, and you probably can't fly (rules are published for each type of plane). Same with some of the little pieces on the outside of the plane that make it more aerodynamic. One off, not a big deal. I realize some of the passengers might say, OMG, if anything fell off of the outside of the plane the last segment, I don't want to be on this aircraft. However, that isn't realistic.

Aircraft have safety redundancies. Boeing shields the electrical system from radio interference, and, on top of that, they try to reduce the interference itself. This isn't something special with eReaders; it's the thinking behind many of the measures that have made flying the safest way to travel.

Aviation authorities are, quite properly, very conservative in the extent of physical imperfection allowed before a plane has to be grounded. But all or nothing just won't work.