First-class passenger Grant Cardone used his iPad to film a bird strike that disabled an engine on Delta Flight 1063 on takeoff from JFK in New York on April 19. The video later aired on CNN.
The following week, the FAA sent Cardone a warning letter (in lieu of a fine) informing him that he had violated Regulation 14 CFR 121 308(a), which requires that electronic devices be turned off at critical times in flight.
Cardone frequently lets his iPhone, iPad and laptop go into sleep mode during takeoffs and landings rather than turning them off. He said: “If electronics are dangerous, the FAA has the obligation to ban or confiscate (them) prior to boarding.”
But the FAA, a Boeing Co. engineer and several airline spokesmen say limiting the use of portable electronic devices is based on safety concerns.
“There are unknowns about the radio signals the devices give off,” said FAA spokeswoman Brie Sachse by email. “Even PEDs that do not intentionally transmit signals can emit unintentional radio energy. … This energy may affect aircraft safety because the signals can occur at the same frequencies used by the plane’s highly sensitive communications, navigation, flight control and electronic equipment.”
Boeing engineer David P. Carson, who co-chaired a Federal Advisory Committee to develop technical guidance for the FAA on the safe use of portable electronic devices on airborne aircraft, says: “For example, clock circuitry in laptops, motor controllers in CD players, etc. have some level of electromagnetic radiation with the potential to interfere with sensitive aircraft systems. Cellphones add ‘intentional RF emissions’ meaning they intentionally transmit radio frequency electromagnetic radiation as part of how they function.”
One problem the FAA faces in updating its portable electronic devices policies is that testing is the responsibility of each airline. And in the current fiscal climate, it’s hard to imagine any airline voluntarily burning fuel to fly an empty plane filled with powered-on iPods, Androids, Kindles, etc. to prove portable electronic devices are harmless.
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