Tuesday Evening Links → FAA approves iPad for all phases of flight

OK -- did they add special shielding to the cockpits or iPads or do the airlines revel in holding the power to annoy a Baldwin brother resulting in hilarious SNL skits?

Isn't it time to question the airlines archaic electronic device policies?

I'd argue that LightSquared's planned LTE network has a better chance of crashing a plane than airline passenger electronic devices.

sounds like apple paid off the right people

Here's the key bits: They only disallow using electronic devices during takeoff and landing up to around ~10K feet. Likely the unseen reason for the policy that wasn't used in favor of a more believable and solid reason of possible electronic interference is to actually keep passengers alert and not nose glued into an electronic device when the takeoff and landing portions of the flight are the most likely to have an accident or failure of some kind.

And like another poster above: I'd much sooner trust a pilot to abide by the policy than a passenger. They have a much more vested interest in piloting the plane safely. Although it should be the same for the passengers, they aren't sitting in the cockpit either.

What? Those "key bits" will remain "unseen". They don't stop you from reading something made out of paper and someone reading a book is no more alert or aware of impending doom than someone using an e-reader. If you believe differently, please elaborate.

Regarding pilots following the rules, they approved use of the devices for ALL aspects of flight, not just cruising at altitude.

I think the "key bits" and "unseen reason" is that our litigious society has created an environment where absolutely NO AIRLINE wants to be the first to lift this policy. If they do and even if there's video proof of a fire in the engine on take off, some conspiracy nut will say, "You know, they were the only ones to allow folks to use electronic devices. I wonder if little Johnny's GameBoy caused that fire in the engine." ...and let the class-action lawsuits begin.

I discussed this yesterday with a colleague and he said that private planes don't have this policy. Having flown on our corporate jet numerous times, I looked at him and realized that I think he's right. I don't remember ever being told to turn off electronic devices on our corporate jet.