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FAA to reconsider e-book policy
Currently e-books are banned from planes during taxi, take-off and landing. But as New York Times reporter Nick Bilton discovered, the FAA has recently decided to take a "fresh look" at its digital reader policy.
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Kai Ryssdal: A note now to the airline passenger public. There are about a bajillion things that have to happen between now and what I'm about to tell you actually coming to pass, but the Federal Aviation Administration says it's going to take another look at the rules for electronic devices on airplanes.
New York Times blogger Nick Bilton knows a little something about that. He's on his cell phone at Kennedy Airport in New York, fresh off a flight from San Francisco with the details. Hi Nick.
Nick Bilton: Thanks for having me.
Ryssdal: So first of all, how was the flight man? Did you have enough to read?
Bilton: I did, but I didn't have anything to eat. So other than that, I had to bring some print magazines with me to help pass the time though.
Ryssdal: Well tell me about that. You are an inveterate e-reader user, lots of people are. And now you say that the FAA might be taking another look at this.
Bilton: Yeah. So I've written a bunch of columns about the fact that we aren't allowed to use e-readers and iPads and things like that on airplanes during takeoff and landing. The rules that exist have been around for some time, but they don't actually make sense. They were actually incorporated way before these devices existed. And so I've called the FAA several times and kind of annoyed them, but when I called them this time they said that they were actually going to start looking into investigating whether they can start using these things on flights again.
Ryssdal: What does that exactly mean though? I can't just imagine that they're going to say, mmm OK.
Bilton: Um, that's a great question. I think what it means is they have a lot of work ahead of them, a lot of bureaucracy and red tape. The way that FAA approves devices for airplanes, and currently there's opnly about four different things that are approved -- that includes electric razors, hearing aids, bizaare contraptions like that. The way that they have to do it is they have to send the flight up with no people on, just the pilots, and then all this testing equipment. And then they actually have to test the devices. So if you see the American Airlines pilots, they know have iPads in the cockpit, that is what they did in the field to test those things. That is what they're going to have to do for Kindles and Nooks and all these other things, too.
Ryssdal: Just to be clear, because people will certainly want to know about this, we're not talking about using phones on airplanes yet, are we?
Bilton: Absolutely not. What people are really, I think, looking for are they want to be able to -- if people don't want a print book and they hae a Kindle they spent $100 on or an iPad that they spent $500 on -- they want to be able to read a book during takeoff and landing on that. Or a magazine or whatever it is, and the current rules don't let you do that. And I think that's what the FAA is going to start looking into. It's not about cell phones.
Ryssdal: Nick Bilton, he writes the Bits Blog for the New York Times. We got him at Kennedy Airport in New York City. Nick, thanks a lot.
Bilton: Thanks for having me.
Funny how these two stories on the same day can be combined in this comment: Good ol' Apple (with their billions just sitting around in the bank) needs to pitch in funding to the FAA for testing the operation of phones, ipads, and i-whatevers during takeoff and landing. Then they can come out and say that their devices were the first to be approved by the FAA - potentially an even larger selling point.
The idea that these devices may cause interference has been proven time and again to not be true. The idea that they don't want the devices out because they're projectiles doesn't make sense, because we're allowed to have heavy books. The idea that people need to listen to the flight attendents doesn't really fly with me, because the first time you're on a plane, you're going to listen, it's part of the experience. It's not like the rules change between every flight.
There is the problem of F=MA where an object carried in the hands of a passenger could continue moving (out of the hands of the passenter) and become a "projectile" after either the aircraft accelerates quickly or stops abruptly. This will be the worst case scenario with current electronics.
All cellular and electronic devices have moved to digital transmission and usually use less than 0.5 watts when transmitting and the danger caused to devices when using the old Motorola Brick at 5.0 watts of transmitting power or 2.5 -3.0 watts for an analog cellular phone used back prior to 2006 are gone.
I would expect the magnetic field of a e-reader would be less than 0.005 watts and would not in anyway interfere with the electronic as the Brick did. (personal military experience using a Brick in the front seat of UH1H in the late '70s).
The issue isn't only electronic emissions, it is a safety matter. Take off and landing are the riskiest parts of the flight, and flight attendants need to be able to communicate safety instructions, so reducing distractions and factors that interfere with this is good safety practice. I suspect the matter of e-readers and other electronics will be argued on this front as well as electronic emissions.
Aircraft are already packed with so much electronics and radio communications equipment they are a flying platform for electromagnetic and radio frequency emissions. What happens inside that metal skin when 120 passengers simultaneously operate their personal electronics? In the US, the Federal Communications Commission sets standards for electromagnetic and radio frequency emissions from electronic devices. That doesn't guarantee that every device is "clean."
It wasn't long ago when all devices were banned inflight. I'll take the long haul and give up the take off and landing if it helps guarantee my safety.
These regulations are based on policies from 1977. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) called for these regulations to be revised in 2010:
http://www.innovationpolicy.org/faa-should-re-evaluate-in-flight-restric...
Why is it necessary to spend the FAA's time and resources on this? Can people really not bear to be separate from their e-readers for the 10 minutes it takes to land an airplane? Buck up, people! It won't kill you to be inconvenienced. Or take along a print magazine - they're lightweight, portable, and can be read as long as there's light in the cabin.
Why should it be? If Skymall has any ability to execute, they should right now be building an easy-to-use app that works on all platforms, and then offer real in-flight discounts (they can automatically tell if the customer is visiting their website from an airplane's Internet connection).
