Guy Kewney wants the airlines to fess up and settle once and for all whether or not the use of cellphone mid-flight is actually dangerous or not. If using a cellphone is a risk, then why isn’t using a laptop or PDA with the WiFi switched on?
If this is necessary, then I’m all for it, myself; but surely, the evidence is that it isn’t necessary? Risk assessment is not a simple matter. You don’t do ANYTHING on an aircraft which might endanger the passengers; but the question of “does this endanger passengers?” isn’t answered by “if there is a way someone can imagine it being dangerous, it must be banned!” Instead, someone ought to make it their business to discover just what the danger is, and assess the risk. Right now, all the data I have says WiFi doesn’t harm a plane. All the data I have says that nobody on the plane can even tell if my phone is on or off, and nobody has yet been able to tell if my WiFi is on or off, either. And the plane flies on. Let’s see data, not unreasoning fears – and let’s assess that data reasonably.
We, on the otherhand, are perfectly content to live with the ban, since it means that while flying we don’t have to be subjected to another person constantly yammering into a phone. Do you really want to be forced to listen to another person’s phone conversation for six hours? Keep the ban.
