A musing or too much?

October 20, 2004

Taking flight with the SMT5600
Category: Technology

Oh the joys of legacy restrictions – I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post (re: the SMT) one of the little nuggets of frustration that I encountered with my SMT. Apparently, there is no room for convergence in the world of the FAA. To them a cell phone is a cell phone is a cell phone. It doesn’t matter that the cell phone has the ability to shut off all radio access. It doesn’t matter that the cell phone is a PDA in that mode. What matters is that it’s, well, a cell phone.

Such started the mini-battle on the plane. Calm at first, I explained to the woman that I was in “flight-mode.” “You see,” I explained, “when it’s in this mode, the radios are disabled.”

“I’m sorry no cell phones are allowed to be turned on during flight.”

“In this mode it’s not a cell phone; it’s a PDA.”

“I wish that you smart guys would explain it to people higher than me. I’ve been told that it doesn’t matter and that until the rule is changed I should instruct all passengers to turn off their phones.”

“But it’s not a phone in this mode. Besides … there isn’t actually any data that shows that any of this matters a whit.”

At this point Steve, from across the aisle, semi-chimes in, “Some flights are even allowing Wi-Fi access.”

“That’s different,” I explained to him, “Apparently if you line the plane with revenue derived from the Wi-Fi, the plane is completely protected. It’s basic physics.”

The flight attendant then left, but 25 seconds later there was an announcement.

“Ladies and gentleman this is a reminder that all devices that are at one point or another capable of sending or receiving a signal must be turned off.”

I contemplated pushing the issue further. I resisted the urge to explain to her that she just told all people whose laptops have wireless cards, Bluetooth, etc. in them to turn their computers off. I resisted the urge to walk up and down the aisles with a Wi-Fi detector. Instead I found my Zen place. It’s a good thing too. I had a fun conversation on that flight.

I couldn’t help but thinking: “It’s no surprise that the government can’t determine when a human life begins; they can’t even figure out when a cell phone becomes a PDA.”

(If you thought that this post was interesting, why not read another? Perhaps a random link? Or you could just read about me.)

Posted by Stephen Speicher at October 20, 2004 10:23 AM

Comments

I presume this was not United. Enough people complained about this to United about 4-5 months ago that they actually came out with a uniform policy. If this was United, then you should write an email/letter complaining. Heck, either way, you should.
I was one that complained after having a similar experience to you about 6 months ago. On 100% of my United flights in the last 3 months, the announcement was made that "cell phones, blackberries, or other devices that can receive or transmit may be used as long as they are in a 'flight mode' or other mode where the radio is off", which is exactly what they should say. I have also heard flight attendants who are trying to be helpful: "if you leave the radio off, it's just going to run down your battery very quickly" (which is true).
I haven't been hassled using my PPC Phone in flight on United (radio off, of course) since that announcement started.

Posted by: David Lemson at October 20, 2004 02:03 PM

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Nope. This was Alaska Air. Interesting to know that United has dealt with this situation. The flight attendant would have had me believe that it was an FAA regulation. So... either a) United is screwing it or b) she was mistaken.

Cheers,
Steve

Posted by: Steve at October 20, 2004 02:24 PM

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It never helps in such situations, but the rules prohibiting in-flight electronics (including radios) actually state that it's up to the "operator" of the aircraft to make those rules. In these cases, the "operator" is Alaska or United, and the official word on whether or not it can be used comes from the "operator"s designated representative, which, in the air, is the captain. But as I say, if you pull the captain out of the cockpit, he's going to be pissed enough that he's going to tell you to shove your phone up your ass. The airlines have rules that prohibit TVs, radios, etc. because they are afraid that they will interfere with things.

This is often confused with the FCC regulation that states that cell phones may not be used in the air (I think it's over a certain altitude), because cell sites were not designed to have cell phones hanging in the air at 20,000 feet - the phone can "see" too many cells at once.

Posted by: David Lemson at October 22, 2004 07:02 AM

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I was once nearly attacked by a fellow passenger because I didn't turn off my MP3 player when the stewardess asked me to. Apparently he was scared that my AAA-powered doodad, which barely makes enough noise to hear the music over the jet engines, had the capability to bring the plane down. I then asked him to turn off his digital watch. He looked at me like I was from the moon. I'm not.

Posted by: JoeBob at October 26, 2004 02:07 PM

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One of my favorite dilberts is the one where PHB has his laptop on during takeoff, and as a result, the plane starts diving. He says something like "Wait a minute, i've got excel! I can land this baby!"

Posted by: KC Lemson at October 26, 2004 10:18 PM

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Virgin Atlantic's announcements and everything say that your phone must be in 'flight safe' mode. I had my SMT5600 out the entire flight.

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