As highly valued as cheap travel options such as cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, and cheap vacation packages are by most travelers, just about everyone would agree that passenger safety should never be jeopardized. While many passengers question the need to shut off electronic devices in flight, experts have found that electronic gadgets emit radio signals that can interfere with cockpit instruments and electronic equipment and systems on planes.
Boeing has determined that any device with a battery, including cellphones, e-readers, Game Boys, and laptops, have emission potential to interfere with cockpit instruments or navigational equipment.
Electromagnetic interference (EMI) caused by the use of personal electronic devices on planes has been found in several cases:
Spurious emissions from transmitting portable electronic devices in flight could exceed interference thresholds for critical aircraft systems, according to a 2008 RTCA study. This organization is a private, non-profit corporation that functions as a Federal Advisory Committee for the Federal Aviation Administration. It develops recommendations regarding communications, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management system issues.
Considerable onboard radio frequency activity from cellphones was observed, including some that could interfere with aircraft GPS equipment in a 2006 Federal Aviation Administration study. These problems were uncovered when 38 flights operated by two airlines were monitored where cellphone calls were made throughout the flights and wireless devices were used during landing approaches.
Boeing said in a March 2001 letter to airlines that it received various reports of anomalies in airplane communication and navigation systems that operators suspected were caused by interference from passenger carry-on electronic devices.
Boeing acknowledged that it was unable to repeat the reported anomalies in a lab or on an airplane.
Pilots and air traffic controllers have reported 32 incidents of electronic device interference on planes from January 2001 through November of 2011.
It is common to see passengers disregard announcements on planes to turn off electronic devices. Tactics used to continue to operate electronic devices after being told to shut them off include turning devices over so that screens are not visible, operating gadgets under blankets, and after flight attendants sit down for takeoff or landing.
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