When do electronics need to be turned off?
Sep 8, 2010 | 8:23 pm
#31
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I am glad your DL pilot friend told you this.
I have a question though. A few years ago when I had to do some EMI testing work WRT getting a product a through FCC approval I was stunned to see how most devices were fairly quite but some screamed all over. Even as high as 10 harmonics up or so (OK, our own product was one such problem child, but not the point of this post).
It is much harder to measure the flip side, but it basically is the same (from theory). Some equipment could be very vulnerable to small signalls at specific freqs. And there is no concept of "but it's a different freq" as we are talking clocks not comm channels.
But this was almost 10 years ago, and now electronics are much better designed. Nobody would be using a cheap Chinease clone phone that might be emitting +40db over allowed levels.
As someone who has spent a few decades sometimes haiving to diagnose why complex electronic equipment glitches and fails, I feel much better that these two pilots (yours and other post) tell me it is no issue.
P.S., Does this qualify me as making a DYKWIA post
I have a question though. A few years ago when I had to do some EMI testing work WRT getting a product a through FCC approval I was stunned to see how most devices were fairly quite but some screamed all over. Even as high as 10 harmonics up or so (OK, our own product was one such problem child, but not the point of this post).
It is much harder to measure the flip side, but it basically is the same (from theory). Some equipment could be very vulnerable to small signalls at specific freqs. And there is no concept of "but it's a different freq" as we are talking clocks not comm channels.
But this was almost 10 years ago, and now electronics are much better designed. Nobody would be using a cheap Chinease clone phone that might be emitting +40db over allowed levels.
As someone who has spent a few decades sometimes haiving to diagnose why complex electronic equipment glitches and fails, I feel much better that these two pilots (yours and other post) tell me it is no issue.
P.S., Does this qualify me as making a DYKWIA post
But are you agreeing with the poster, or are you being sarcastic?
Sep 9, 2010 | 7:05 am
#32
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Thanks for the replies. I'm not pissed about having to power down early, just trying to figure out the discrepancies in power down time on various flights. I've seen the differences on both mainline and regional partners and was just curious as to what the official "policy" was. I'm not the DYKWIA type, nor am I one to make a stink about being told to shut down early. Just a curiosity thing!
Sep 9, 2010 | 7:46 am
#33
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Thanks for the replies. I'm not pissed about having to power down early, just trying to figure out the discrepancies in power down time on various flights. I've seen the differences on both mainline and regional partners and was just curious as to what the official "policy" was. I'm not the DYKWIA type, nor am I one to make a stink about being told to shut down early. Just a curiosity thing!
There are many times that we are well above 10K feet that the FA, for whatever reason, tells people to power down their devices. I could've read for another 5-10 minutes, but because the FA wants to "take care of this early" I'm expected to put my Kindle / iPad away. It's silly and inconsistent. And very annoying to me.
Sep 9, 2010 | 9:20 am
#34
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Another reason to put away electronic devices is so that you are tuned in during critical phases of flight (takeoff, climb out, approach, and landing) should any emergency arise.
While you may be able to poke holes in the rules by citing specific examples where the rule perhaps doesn't make sense (i.e. airplane mode vs. completely off, standby vs. shut down, Kindle only consumes power when you change the page), the rule also has to be simple enough to be enforceable. The FAA can't provide airlines with a rule carrying 1000 exceptions and caveats, so they just create one rule: no electronic devices.
While you may be able to poke holes in the rules by citing specific examples where the rule perhaps doesn't make sense (i.e. airplane mode vs. completely off, standby vs. shut down, Kindle only consumes power when you change the page), the rule also has to be simple enough to be enforceable. The FAA can't provide airlines with a rule carrying 1000 exceptions and caveats, so they just create one rule: no electronic devices.
Sep 9, 2010 | 9:42 am
#35
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Another reason to put away electronic devices is so that you are tuned in during critical phases of flight (takeoff, climb out, approach, and landing) should any emergency arise.
While you may be able to poke holes in the rules by citing specific examples where the rule perhaps doesn't make sense (i.e. airplane mode vs. completely off, standby vs. shut down, Kindle only consumes power when you change the page), the rule also has to be simple enough to be enforceable. The FAA can't provide airlines with a rule carrying 1000 exceptions and caveats, so they just create one rule: no electronic devices.
While you may be able to poke holes in the rules by citing specific examples where the rule perhaps doesn't make sense (i.e. airplane mode vs. completely off, standby vs. shut down, Kindle only consumes power when you change the page), the rule also has to be simple enough to be enforceable. The FAA can't provide airlines with a rule carrying 1000 exceptions and caveats, so they just create one rule: no electronic devices.
Sep 9, 2010 | 9:54 am
#36
Join Date: Mar 2002
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The FAs have NO clue what altitude the airplane is flying at. On flights with the airshow, I'm pretty sure they're not going to look at that to determine when to make their announcements. If you've noticed, they take cues from the chiming system set in place from the flight deck. We have our flows and procedures which involve chiming the FAs at pre determined times. When they hear their chime, they make their announcements. And this, one more time, is a function of the manuals and procedures the FAA have approved for all 9 carriers. DL has, from what I can tell, attempted to align the DCI announcements to their own. Chiming, etc... may be different.
The time between passing 10,000 and landing does not come with a pre set timeframe. It can happen quick, can happen slow or can easily turn from what we THOUGHT was going to be quick, into something slow or vice versa. So, it may seem like the FAs are doing their jobs early, but it just might be a matter of passing through 10,000 feet and "lingering" so to speak, which makes the passenger feel like they've been duped into a conspiracy that the FAs have stirred up to get electronic devices turned off early.
The time between passing 10,000 and landing does not come with a pre set timeframe. It can happen quick, can happen slow or can easily turn from what we THOUGHT was going to be quick, into something slow or vice versa. So, it may seem like the FAs are doing their jobs early, but it just might be a matter of passing through 10,000 feet and "lingering" so to speak, which makes the passenger feel like they've been duped into a conspiracy that the FAs have stirred up to get electronic devices turned off early.
Sep 9, 2010 | 10:30 am
#37
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I'm with the pilots here. The FAs don't always know exactly when the flight passes through the 10,000 foot level. The announcement may come before or after.
So the simplest, easiest thing to do is simply stow the electronics when the announcement is made. At worse, you're going to have to do it a few minutes early, and you're usually on the ground within 20-30 minutes of the announcement anyway.
If you can't wait 20-30 minutes without electronics as the flight prepares for landing, you might want to invest your resources on developing teleportation.
So the simplest, easiest thing to do is simply stow the electronics when the announcement is made. At worse, you're going to have to do it a few minutes early, and you're usually on the ground within 20-30 minutes of the announcement anyway.
If you can't wait 20-30 minutes without electronics as the flight prepares for landing, you might want to invest your resources on developing teleportation.