OK, time for a lesson here, but I won't try to make it too complicated. I will indeed reduce it down to something everyone should be able to understand.

There is a RF worry out there that is arguable way more important than airplane component interference. That would be pacemakers. These devices regulate a human heartbeat. Interference in this case can actually kill a human being on the spot. RF interference on an airplane can be mitigated by a human pilot. There is no human control of a pacemaker. So there is even more hysteria about the subject of pacemaker interference than there is for flight component interference. An early study claimed that Ipods should have warning labels so that people with pacemakers should not have them in their pockets.

Real EM scientists thought that was pretty ridiculous so an exhaustive study was done on the subject. They could only find measurable magnetic field emissions within 1 cubic centimeter. Beyond that distance, there was no effective measurement of energy.

And FYI, there is WAY more shielding on flight components in comparison to pacemaker devices.

So if you go back and read my original post in this thread, how much energy does an Ipod radiate at 1cm? How would a passenger go about installing their Ipod 1cm from critical flight components? And how would that tiny bit of energy have any effect? The answer should be obvious to you now, eh?

For reference, here is a document from the US FDA on the subject of pacemaker interference from Ipods and other RF emitting devices.

http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Sc.../ucm083219.htm