AviationFAA to relax in-flight electronics ban

Flight crew using iPad in cockpit // Source: tech-k.com

A federal advisory panel debating whether to allow passengers on planes to use electronic gadgets during takeoffs and landings reached a consensus last Friday to lift some of the current restrictions.

USA Today reports that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) set up the panel, which is made up of industry and labor representatives, to study whether it would be wise to ease the restrictions on using electronics while taxiing, taking off, or landing.

The panel is supposed to make its recommendations next month, but the FAA said last week that it will extend the deadline to September.

“The FAA recognizes consumers are intensely interested in the use of personal electronics aboard aircraft” the FAA said in a statement. “At the group’s request, the FAA has granted a two-month extension to complete the additional work necessary for the safety assessment. We will wait for the group to finish its work before we determine next steps.”

The FAA set the communications ban years ago, before cell phones and laptops were a normal fixture among travelers, because of fears the devices could interfere with a plane’s guidance and communications systems. Today, however, airplanes are more protected, technology is more advanced, and travelers are growing impatient with the inability to use their electronic gadgets on board.

Last month, a group of 100 high school students and their chaperones were thrown off their flight heading to Atlanta because the students refused to turn off their electronic devices before the flight took off.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) is a supporter of relaxing the ban and believes passengers should be allowed to read, listen to music, or watch videos on their cell phones, laptops, and tablets while planes are lower than 10,000 feet in the air.

“It’s good to see the FAA may be on the verge of acknowledging what the traveling public has suspected for years —  that current rules are arbitrary and lack real justification,” McCaskill told USA Today. “In the meantime, I’ll continue my effort to have these regulations rigorously examined until scientific evidence has been presented to justify them, or the rules are altered.”

One factor that could work in the public’s favor is that some airlines use iPads and other tablets to access and demonstrate safety rules on planes before and during take-offs.