[LINK] 5 Reasons Why E-Books Aren't There Yet

[Birch, Jim]

Kim Holburn  wrote:

> Most of the aeroplanes we fly in now were designed and built long
after wireless phones and other devices were in common use.  There is no
justification that personal wireless devices would interfere with
anything in a modern aeroplane.  Even less in a plane with a non-metal
shell.  Australia is particularly anal about these silly rules.

I'd have thought so too but:

On an international flight about 5 years ago my brother-in-law was asked
to switch off a laptop because it was interfering with the navigation
system.  The plane was about 150 km off course on a flight to Asia.  The
plane returned to course when he turned it off.  The captain asked him
to take it to the vendor to get it fixed and not use on flights it until
then.  It was apparently emitting some RF that exceeded the standards.
 
I guess this would be an exceptional situation with a brand name laptop
but not all Asian electronic device assemblers would have the QA that
the big brands (claim to) have.  A device will generally appear work
with a missing RF choke.  On the other side, I expect that avionics must
have an on-going hardening process in the age of ubiquitous portable
devices, since you can't rely on users to know if what their device is
emitting or to switch it off when directed, or often even to know if
it's on. 

- Jim  
  


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