that’s right, you can’t.
i challenge any airline passenger in the near future to turn on their cell phones, cd players, laptops, any or all of their electronics during takeoff or landing, and watch as nothing happens.
the deal is, all electronic systems give off magnetic fields which alter voltages in other systems, which seems like a bad thing, right? well the fields given off by any electronics a passenger are so small, there is no noticeable effect to the plane’s systems. even all of the pieces of the plane’s equipment work together just fine themselves.
it’s a matter of paranoid legal protection for the airlines to force this rule upon you.
don’t you think that if this was truly a risk, in this age of digital terrorism, that a) someone would have tried it by now and b) the government would mandate protections from it?
there have only been a couple of documented and reported cases of electronic interference from portable electronics in the history of the industry, where no explanation was given other than “a laptop was on.”
there’s little to no evidence for this being a true problem, so i invite you to test the pilots’ skills and carry about 50 portable devices on board, and turn them all on during takeoff or landing. even for a split second, to see if the plane does a loop-de-loop or anything. not gonna happen, yo.
i actually just watched “Bowling For Columbine” about 30 minutes ago; i was pretty impressed. michael moore tends to walk the fine line between pro-active cynicism and name-calling, but usually keeps his balance. this should definitely be worth watching, especially before november.
