October 24, 2004

• I can't see it interfering with anything, but the only time I left it on, the air hostess told me to turn it off very sternly.
• Maybe. An iPod uses electrical currect and will therefore emit EMF. The question is how powerful and at what frequencies. It seems to be that the FAA's guidelines aim to be as conservative and safe as possible, given the impossible task of categorizing every single device on the market. If safety means I have to wait a few minutes to listen to my Bette Midler and Lionel Ritchie, so be it.
• Alex Reynolds: Ack. I'm scared straight!
• I usually just sneak my CD player under a jacket, and no one's the wiser. I haven't died yet.
• If I were to venture a guess, I'd say that even if the vast majority of gameboys etc don't pose any sort of threat, malfunctioning ones might be emitting signals they weren't designed to, hence the blanket ban.
• Plug in and have fun. These rules were written mostly by corporate attorneys to protect theirselves from litigation. The things you should avoid are mostly radios, though I've heard some older Game Boys have caused problems. But really the sensitive avionics are not used at all during takeoff... it's instrument landings that might cause a problem. So if bad weather is expected on arrival I'd give them the benefit of the doubt when under 10,000'.
• I should add though if you're caught by a flight attendent, then you should do as told, of course.
• What Rolypolyman said. I have occasion to fly on private planes on a semi frequent basis and I asked a pilot once about cell phones and laptops being off for takeoff and he thought it was a load of hooey. He said that perhaps there was some theoretical possibilty of radio interference between plane and tower but that the odds were astronomically against such an occurence. He let me use my laptop while making a cell phone call while we took off to prove his point. We survived
• I'm too busy balancing the subtle courage-lending aspects of my usual pre-flight troika of cocktails against the impending not-so-subtle urge to shit myself in fear during takeoff to worry about whether or not my cell phone is going to crash the plane. I usually forget that I have it on until they tell me it's ok to have it on, which leads me to believe the small electronics ban is pretty much crapola.
• I recall being asked to turn off my portable CD player and my walkman on two seperate flights; I can see the same thing applying to iPods.
• Wrap your ipod up in tinfoil so the radio waves can't get out. Point this out to the steward. Point out your tinfoil hat, too. :) Seriously though, if you're worried, line your pocket in foil and stick it in that.
• Aluminum foil doesn't block all E/M signals. Electronic devices, *if they're working properly* don't emit anything that could mess with airline electronics, but many times they aren't at 100% even if you don't notice anyting wrong. Just recently a student's laptop was for some weird reason was broadcasting on the international distress channel, and he was none the wiser until the SWAT team showed up at his dorm! So these things DO happen. Why risk it? Surely you can go tuneless for a few minutes.
• An ipod decodes mp3s, and is hence a computer and an electronic device. Electronic computers spit out EM waves like crazy, and I assure you your ipod hasn't been tempested to block it. So, yes, this means you. Turn it off. It's entirely possible that the whole interference issue is nothing more than superstition among pilots built on a few coincidences. Even so, turn it off. Better to be quiet and alert for instructions during takeoff and landing instead of lost in tunes or Civ3 on the jillion to one chance of Bad Shit.
• fatoudust, that was a flat-screen TV
• Mr. Knickerbocker wrote: "fatoudust, that was a flat-screen TV" D'oh! Yes, that was what I was thinking of, not a laptop. Thank you for the correction. I was too lazy to go fact-checking before publishing. Bad monkey, no biscuit. But my main point was valid, that otherwise ordinary-acting electronic devices can be broadcasting and can interfere with legitimate activities. So shut them off when you're asked to, please.
• Theoretically, YES it can interfere with the thingy. In REALITY the likelihood is next to zero.
• Just for giggles I wrapped my cellphone in a piece of spare aluminum foil I was about to throw away. I left the screen open to watch the signal strength meter, and the rest of the phone wasn't that well-covered. The signal dropped from 4 to 1, but depending upon how I held it or moved the foil, it could vary from 0 to 2. Extending the antenna before wrapping made it more likely that a signal would be detected. Of course this only applies to whatever frequency my cell phone happens to work at, which may bear no matter to frequencies that aircraft need.
• *dances* vindication!
• I gotta try that now, fatoudust. I would've predicted a stronger signal strength. If I wrap my TV antenna with foil, I get better signal, right? That's how it was back in te olden days. I wonder why the difference?
• Theoretically, YES it can interfere with the thingy. In REALITY the likelihood is next to zero. Yes, that's right. Turn it off anyway. Just turn it the fuck off, all of it.
• I wonder why the difference? My guess is this: the foil was in direct contact with your TV antenna, so it was basically a jury-rigged "extension" to your antenna, making it work better. However mobile antennas are not naked, but wrapped in (usually) plastic insulation. So the foil is actually wrapped around the insulation, making reception worse.
• Deth to teh nOOsb! Teh suck!
• Sorry for the late comment/question, but how do you "turn off" an iPod anyway? There's no switch, and you can't even take out the battery.
• Holding the play/pause button suspends the ipod. The only way I know to turn it off is to leave it idle for 24 hours, so plan ahead if you're flying. =)
• The only way I know to turn it off is to leave it idle for 24 hours, so plan ahead if you're flying. Or just press and hold the Play button for a few seconds.
• Nostril: Theoretically, YES it can interfere with the thingy. In REALITY the likelihood is next to zero. ASRS has collected almost 69,000 incident reports. In 52 of these (slightly less than .08% of the total), the flight crew suspected that a portable electronic device operated by a passenger was creating interference to aircraft systems. Some of the incidents attributable to PEDs are set forth below. Better safe than sorry.
• I think agropyron was assuming you're all iPod owners and know there's no off switch. I say just pause and lock the ipod, and put it away. It'll make the stewardesses (the male stewardesses too :) happy.
• I'm sure that Toshiba TV's will be banned after this little mishap, but I dont think an ipod would do it
• whoops, didn't see that other link to it up there. sorry bout that
• I was once told that the real reason for requiring all portable devices to be switched off isn't electrical interference. Instead, it's a way of ensuring that all of the passengers are paying attention to the safety presentation and the staff. This is especially true of personal music systems where you've got something in your ear blocking any important announcements that the stewards/stewardesses may be trying to make. I can't remember who told me this, but I seem to remember it was from a source who was reliable enough to make me discard my weak assumption that the portable electronics were interfering with the flight controls.