Last night, in ridiculous news that isn’t really news, reports came in that Alec Baldwin was kicked off of an American Airlines plane for refusing to power down his airplane mode set device. The FAA requires that most electronic devices get powered down for take-off and landing while the FCC bans the use of wireless devices in the 800MHz frequency on airplanes. This is perhaps the most unenforceable rule in aviation — in every online forum on this topic you’ll find people claiming to not even switch to airplane mode for flights — yet this has never happened:
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpc7oE3mT_c’]
The FAA commissioned a report from the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics in 2006 on the effects of cellphones on airplanes. They found insufficient evidence to prove or disprove that phones cause interference with the plane. That same year, Mythbusters tackled the issue. Mythbusters specifically tested devices in the 800-900 MHz range and found it only interfered with unshielded wiring. Modern planes are all shielded. They found no evidence that cellphones can cause interference on a commercial flight.
The FAA has not changed policies because they have seen no evidence that they should. But this information, from The New York Times, should have them reconsider:
The government might be causing more unnecessary interference on planes by asking people to shut their devices down for take-off and landing and then giving them permission to restart all at the same time. According to electrical engineers, when the electronic device starts, electric current passes through every part of the gadget, including GPS, Wi-Fi, cellular radio and microprocessor.
If this is true, then Mr. Baldwin’s airplane mode set device was already as safe as it could be. Perhaps this incident will finally shine a spotlight on the regulation and whether it needs to be updated. A re-evalution is especially overdue as other countries have started lifting their bans against cell phone use during flights.
Zynga obviously has an opinion on the matter too.
Oh, Dani, you ARE a superhero by night!! And I get dirty looks whenever I am pumping gas while on my mobile… people need to know the rules are often misguided.. I wonder how many “cellphones will kill you at the gas pump” stickers have been sold?