One of the nightly snooze shows (NBC I think) had this absurd story the other day. What a load of crap. They CM folks were shocked (shocked!) to learn that people were using unauthorised electronic devices like cellphones in flight. Nobody bothered to mention how many of the devices were simply left on by accident. The big fear they tried to promote is that GPS data would be mangled and cause a crash.
Aha -- I found it.
NBC Nightly News story here. The absurd headline? "Don’t risk it: Turn off your cell phone on planes." It comes complete with video.
According to scientists and government officials, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that suggests battery-operated devices, including cell phones, computers and handheld games — especially those with wireless signals — might disrupt critical aircraft navigation systems.
And from the CM guy:
We also found quite a lot of interference in the GPS band — that’s the global positioning satellite band — and that’s really troubling because increasingly airlines are using this for precision approach.”
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