Originally Posted by
greggwiggins
Considering that the issue is minor inconvenience from temporary shutdowns of electronics vs. the possibility of death for dozens of people, requiring that everything be turned off at times with the lowest margin for error -- such as takeoffs and landings -- seems the logical action.
No, it does not. When the possibility of death or injury is so extraordinarily low (how many people have died as a result of in-cabin use of consumer electronics?), then inconveniencing tens of millions of travelers is certainly not automatically the logical action.
People balance convenience and risk all of the time, and often far more towards risk than entailed by the topic at hand.
As I have repeatedly said on FT: if the risk were anything but negligible, then Boeing, Airbus, avionics manufacturers, the airlines, etc. should not be flying those aircraft at risk, as all sorts of consumer electronics will almost always be on during all phases of flight.