The Big Turn Off

Do you really want the idiot in the seat sitting next to you on that overnight flight to yak it up on his smart phone? Picture a gaggle of gabbing grousers all over the flight chattering away, a cacophony of disruptive sounds. Put your head back on that neck pillow of yours, close your eyes and… listen to the myriad conversations around the plane. If there is any danger in the skies from the use of cell phones, it may well be from irate passengers desperately wanting some limited privacy for some truly second rate zzzz’s. A well-thrown punch or an angry confrontation in the skies.

But do such personal electronics actually disrupt the aircraft’s navigation system? Here’s the party line, reported back in September 2004 by the Smithsonian’s Air & Space magazine: “The truth is that portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones, compact disc players, and remote-controlled toys, can emit powerful electromagnetic radiation that can muck up an aircraft’s navigation and communication systems and actually endanger a flight. Airline telephones, on the other hand, transmit radio signals to and from antennas mounted externally on the aircraft, and such phones meet Federal Aviation Administration specifications that prevent them from interfering with the aircraft’s radio and navigation systems. Portable electronic devices do not currently meet such FAA requirements…

“Bruce Donham, who has spent a decade studying such interference for Boeing, recalls several incidents when the manufacturer was informed of anomalies—like an autopilot turning itself off during cruise or an airplane banking on its own—and advised the airlines to purchase the suspect portable electronic devices for tests. To the frustration of Boeing engineers, follow-up testing never duplicated the problems, either on subsequent flights or in the lab. ‘We think it’s a very low risk,’ Donham says of the threat from electronic devices, ‘but we have to gather data to prove it out.’” Pilots have often pointed out cockpit avionics failures, and there has always been speculation that someone on the aircraft turned on an illicit electronic device that was the cause… but no one really every proved that to be the case.

Nick Bilton brought a healthy skepticism to the FAA proscription against such devices, particularly during take-off and landing: “Dealing with the F.A.A. on this topic is like arguing with a stubborn teenager. The agency has no proof that electronic devices can harm a plane’s avionics, but it still perpetuates such claims, spreading irrational fear among millions of fliers… A year ago, when I first asked Les Dorr, a spokesman for the F.A.A., why the rule existed, he said the agency was being cautious because there was no proof that device use was completely safe. He also said it was because passengers needed to pay attention during takeoff.

“When I asked why I can read a printed book but not a digital one, the agency changed its reasoning. I was told by another F.A.A. representative that it was because an iPad or Kindle could put out enough electromagnetic emissions to disrupt the flight. Yet a few weeks later, the F.A.A. proudly announced that pilots could now use iPads in the cockpit instead of paper flight manuals… The F.A.A. then told me that ‘two iPads are very different than 200.’ But experts at EMT Labs, an independent testing facility in Mountain View, Calif., say there is no difference in radio output between two iPads and 200. ‘Electromagnetic energy doesn’t add up like that,’ said Kevin Bothmann, the EMT Labs testing manager...

“The F.A.A. should check out an annual report issued by NASA that compiles cases involving electronic devices on planes. None of those episodes have produced scientific evidence that a device can harm a plane’s operation. Reports of such interference have been purely speculation by pilots about the cause of a problem.

“Other government agencies and elected officials are finally getting involved…This December, Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, sent a letter to the F.A.A. telling the agency that it had a responsibility to ‘enable greater use of tablets, e-readers and other portable devices’ during flights, as they empower people and allow ‘both large and small businesses to be more productive and efficient, helping drive economic growth and boost U.S. competitiveness.’” New York Times, December 30^th.

Devices that are quiet might make the grade, but in cramped spaces, conversations really need some sensible limits. “[M]ost passengers don’t actually want to talk in the air. Nor do they want to talk to their co-passengers… Apparently saying ‘I love you,’ at 35,000 feet isn’t a great a temptation for 38% of us who fly… It seems we’d rather enjoy the quietness of a Wi-Fi free zone. But, as Female First reports, way more than half of flying passengers would gladly give up the airlines’ in-flight entertainment systems if Wi-Fi were offered… The key attraction, predictably, is ‘keeping in touch.’” NewMediaTravel.com.

In the long run, such devices are so completely a part of our daily lives that airlines will increasingly build in communications capacities as part of the ticket price. For those airlines with pilot programs (he he) allowing phone and Web access, providing Wi-Fi/cell phone connectivity is simply a revenue-generator in a highly competitive space. Emirates is one airline where yakking it up is just fine… and their nav systems are very much intact. It seems the argument that such electronics interfere with the plane’s internal systems is no longer a viable defense.

I’m Peter Dekom, and I still don’t mind long flights where I can catch up on reading and to bag a few zzzzz’s.