weekilter

The FAA has been dragging its feet in regards to use of electronic devices such as Kindles, iPads and other devices.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/1...er=rss&emc=rss

abnz

The main danger seems to be having the other passengers beat you senseless.

kirkbauer

I had somebody report me to the TSA because he thought my iPad wasn't fully off.

Internaut

The real danger is actually decapitation. In the event of an air accident, an iPad propelled at high speed can cause serious injury or death. And that's on top of the risks posed by the air accident itself. This is why the cabin crew ask for everything to be stowed on take off and landing - it reduces the number of items flying around the cabin at lethal speed in the event of a crash.

kirkbauer

So why do they allow books of any size/weight to be unstowed?

Internaut

Simple answer: They probably shouldn't!

kirkbauer

For optimum safety you are right, but I think there is a balance between safety and comfort. Ideally passengers would wear helmets and 5-point harnesses and be ready to escape at a moment's notice. But given the unlikely event of a major accident, and given the unlikely event of survival in an accident regardless of the preparation, I think I speak for most passengers when I say I'll take the risk, just let me read a book or Kindle or use my iPad.

boberonicus

That makes sense, but not if you're in a plane that contains more than one person.

kirkbauer

Understood, but perhaps if I'm in the vast majority then people who don't accept the risk can choose not to fly, or go on special flights full of other ultra-safety-paranoid people?

Internaut

Depending on the route and the size of the plane, take off and the landing phase (where they ask you to stow everything) is 15-30 minutes. I don't see how it could possibly be a hardship (or a violation of anyone's rights) to do without entertainment in that time. Some carriers now have their entertainment switched on pretty much from the moment you get on the plane to the moment it touches down.

kirkbauer

When I traveled for work, I did 250 flights per year. Even at 15min per flight, that is 37.5 hours per year of my life wasted for the minuscule chance that we will get in an accident and the minuscule chance that my iPad being in my bag under my seat will actually improve the outcome of that accident. In my case much of my travel was in New England so 30-60 minutes per flight was not unusual, especially in the winter, so I'm guessing it exceeded 60 hours per year.

Perhaps if they would let us use them during taxi (and waiting) time then it would be much less of a deal. If I'm in the minority here then so be it, but my guess is >75% of passengers would accept a slightly greater chance of dying for the convenience of not being bored out of their mind. I mean we are talking about a 1 in a million chance of dying on a flight, perhaps that increases to 1 in 900,000? There are many ways you are more likely to die (e.g. car accidents, cancer, heart attack, smoking, alcohol, etc).

Often1

Unfortunately, we're stuck with the morons. If the Captain could just make his standard announcement about being next in line for departure and ask that all electronic devices be shut down and people actualy did so instantly, there's no reason not to allow PED's on the ground. But, that ain't the way it is. So, there's a bright line. The cabin door closes, PED's go off and that's it.

CPRich

I've been on many flights where nothing was allowed outside of the overhead and underseat areas, including anything in the seatback pocket.

X3Skier

+1

Cheers

planemechanic

LOL

Actually the biggest danger is that we are all severely impacted by the stupid safety paranoid people who are sitting next to us. The actual demonstrated danger of Personal Electronic Devices on commercial aircraft is a proven ZERO events in the past 30 years, or 300 MILLION commercial flights. Not bad odds, much better than the odds of some safety nut going off half cocked and punching a random teenager on the airplanes.

If we are REALLY interested in our safety we would ban these safety nuts from air travel, and restrict them to the buses.