Thursday, November 27th, 2008
You are forbidden to use these once the aircraft is rolling or in the final stages of descent because 'they may cause interference with the aircraft's navigational systems.' Same goes for other portable devices as they put it, including your iPOD. If this is true and I don't think it is, then there is something sadly lacking in the design of aircraft electronics.
Let's move to cars for a moment. They are an absolute hive of electrical interference especially the ignition spark. Every time that cracks off, it sends high voltage short-lived pulses (spikes) throughout the car and emits radio frequency waves. Not only that but cars drive all the while in areas of high electrical interference, none more so than when passing TV and radio transmitters. So what do we do with vehicle electronics ? We 'harden' them which is to say we design them so as not to emit crap and not be sensitive to all but the very, very strongest inbound stuff. And we do this for products costing as little as £10. After all, you don't want your flasher kicking off just because there is some copper talking on his radio as his car passes by.
Aircraft cost millions and millions and millions so why can't they do the same? I am sure they can and have done so, so I don't understand the need to switch off. People used their cell phones on American 93 just before it crashed into the Pentagon and you never heard a word about that exacerbating the situation.
And to finish I'll change the subject to what I see as another myth. Do you really believe that your mobile can set fire to a petrol station ? To create a fire requires energy which in electrical terms means both voltage and current and cell phones just don't have that punch. I once had 5 million volts through me but at such a low current that all I felt was a tingle even though lightning was flying off my shoes.
Can anybody enlighten me here?
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