Use of wireless mouse on aircraft
 

This is probably a theoretical issue.

There is not enough space on the seatback tray to allow the use of a wireless mouse. ;)

But I am intrigued.

I just bought a new wireless mouse. The following instruction caught my eye:

"Before boarding the aircraft, remove the batteries from the wireless mouse. The wireless mouse can emit radio frequency (RF) energy, similar to a cellular telephone, whenever batteries are installed and the mouse is activated either by touch or button press"

Comments.

I thought that a wireless mouse uses infra-red, not RF (RF defined to be 9 kHz to 1000 GHz).

What if it's bluetooth (2.45 GHz)?

I've got this Fujitsu laptop with Bluetooth built in, and it gives me enough space to use this small Targus Bluetooth Mouse on the tray table onboard United Airlines.

I've done this a few times. It's probably not officially allowed. I really don't know.

The Targus Bluetooth Mouse has an on/off switch on the bottom of it, so I don't think I'd ever remove the batteries as a precaution to anything even if they told me I couldn't use it. There's very little chance of it accidentally being switched on.

I've always wondered, in response to AA's annoucement of "If it has an on-off switch, it must be turned off," what if my device DIDN'T have an on-off switch, but just stayed on all the time?

I say... they have WiFi on aircraft, why not BT/tailless mice?

Infra-red is line-of-sight or scatter/refelection based - not very effective in this application - I'm not aware of any mice that use IR, they're all RF/bluetooth.

My MS Laptop Mouse automatically turns off when the USB receiver is placed back in its holder on the bottom side of the mouse - saves battery life and makes it hard to lose.

On the topic of mice, I bougth a great logitech one the other day which rather than being optical, it has a laser. This makes it much more precise.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...lance&n=172282 (there's a an explanation of the technology in the product description)

The problem with wireless mice, wifi, etc., is that in spsite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary (the fact that many airlines have Connexion wireless internet available, cell phone use will likely be allowed in the near future) some have the perception that the use of these devices will cause some sort of psychic electromagnetic waveform within the aircaft cabin turing the FAs into drooling zombies and causing the entire aircraft to crash after bursting into flames...


:rolleyes:

Same freq (but lower power) as Connexion by Boeing http://www.connexionbyboeing.com/ which uses WiFi to provide Internet service on aircraft.

People fly on airplanes every day with Bluetooth enabled phones w/o turning them off. If an airplane is in the slightest vulnerable to these signals, it should not be flying. Any airline flying such an aircraft (even if it mandates turning off Bluetooth, etc. devices) would be criminally liable if an accident occurred because of interference, as it is so obviously foreseeable.

If it's not safe to use a Bluetooth device, the airline you are flying is potentially criminally negligent, IMHO. IANAL.

Doesn't mean that you should use it though.

If you're using one of the wide laptops, I could see where tray space would be an issue, but my 12in wide laptop leaves plenty of space on the tray for my mouse.

I've used a wireless mouse for almost two years and never been asked to turn it off. Probably b/c the range on these things is pitiful, at most 2-3 feet. In fact, if the tray table has too much metal in them I've found the signal to the mouse is blocked.

That may be true of your particular mouse's wireless technology. However, a typical Bluetooth Class 2 wireless mouse will get you 30 feet easy, in my experience.

There's even Bluetooth Class 1 out there, which will get you up to 300 feet!

Folks often use both for controlling their laptops from across the room during video presentations.