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FACT: the risk of my mobile phone igniting vapourised fuel in a gas station forecourt is almost exactly equivalent to the probability that my ipod nano will tan

by mafro 15y ago

FACT: the risk of my mobile phone igniting vapourised fuel in a gas station forecourt is almost exactly equivalent to the probability that my ipod nano will tangle with an airplane's cockpit electronics. It's all myth and fud spread by a) people with ulterior motives (see above) b) people who are too uneducated or too stupid to make their own judgement. Like air hostesses, petrol attendants.

wglb 15y ago
Inside your iPod nano, or any other device with a computer chip is a radio transmitter. Inside the cockpit are many radio receivers, some of which are pretty critical to the proper flight of the airplane. Your radio transmitter, and radio transmitters being run by other passengers, mix and mingle their signals, producing an unpredictable effect on these key cockpit receivers. The probability that this happens is not zero or low, but very high.
- orangecat 15y ago
  The probability that this happens is not zero or low, but very high. No, it isn't. If it were, we wouldn't be depending on the honor system.
- aceofspades19 15y ago
  1. Not all devices with a computer chip have radios, my TI-84 calculator has a Z-80 processor but there is no radio in it 2. Aircraft radios operate on a very different frequency then consumer electronics, and I'm pretty sure the FCC wouldn't allow consumer electronics to operate on the same frequency as the radios in a cockpit regardless
  - CamperBob 15y ago
    Technically, yes, there is a "radio" in your TI-84. The Z-80 is clocked by a crystal oscillator, which runs at a few MHz. Some of that energy will escape in the form of electromagnetic radiation. Sensitive instruments (including an ordinary AM radio) can pick up this radiation from distances ranging from a few inches to several yards. This is true of essentially all modern electronics, although the frequencies have obviously gone higher and higher over time. If it were true that the RF energy levels emitted by FCC Part 15-covered consumer electronics could interfere with aircraft systems, it would be utterly unthinkable to permit them on board in the first place, whether "powered off" or not. The TSA would be confiscating Game Boys, not bottles of water. Since that isn't happening, it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that the prohibition is just one more exercise in bureaucratic security theatre.
    - andrewescott 15y ago
      If all electronic devices were dangerous, airlines would be asking passengers to remove the batteries from their wristwatches for the duration of the flight.

by mafro 15y ago

wglb 15y ago

Inside your iPod nano, or any other device with a computer chip is a radio transmitter. Inside the cockpit are many radio receivers, some of which are pretty critical to the proper flight of the airplane. Your radio transmitter, and radio transmitters being run by other passengers, mix and mingle their signals, producing an unpredictable effect on these key cockpit receivers. The probability that this happens is not zero or low, but very high.

orangecat 15y ago
The probability that this happens is not zero or low, but very high. No, it isn't. If it were, we wouldn't be depending on the honor system.
aceofspades19 15y ago
1. Not all devices with a computer chip have radios, my TI-84 calculator has a Z-80 processor but there is no radio in it 2. Aircraft radios operate on a very different frequency then consumer electronics, and I'm pretty sure the FCC wouldn't allow consumer electronics to operate on the same frequency as the radios in a cockpit regardless
- CamperBob 15y ago
  Technically, yes, there is a "radio" in your TI-84. The Z-80 is clocked by a crystal oscillator, which runs at a few MHz. Some of that energy will escape in the form of electromagnetic radiation. Sensitive instruments (including an ordinary AM radio) can pick up this radiation from distances ranging from a few inches to several yards. This is true of essentially all modern electronics, although the frequencies have obviously gone higher and higher over time. If it were true that the RF energy levels emitted by FCC Part 15-covered consumer electronics could interfere with aircraft systems, it would be utterly unthinkable to permit them on board in the first place, whether "powered off" or not. The TSA would be confiscating Game Boys, not bottles of water. Since that isn't happening, it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that the prohibition is just one more exercise in bureaucratic security theatre.
  - andrewescott 15y ago
    If all electronic devices were dangerous, airlines would be asking passengers to remove the batteries from their wristwatches for the duration of the flight.