Despite Industry Pressure, Future of Tablet Use on Flights Unclear

Flyers are “frustrated,” said Paul Misener, Amazon vice president-global public policy. Amazon polled its customers, he said: “We get lots of comments saying things like, ’this is stupid, dumb, idiotic.’ But they're also experienced flyers and they've been observing … that other customers are keeping their PEDs on at all phases of the flight and this happens frequently. … They're rightfully wondering why planes aren’t coming down if this is a problem.” Flyers also recognize that flight crew make use of PEDs throughout the flight without incident, he said.

Misener said he’s participating in the aviation rulemaking committee that will look at whether rules for PEDs should be relaxed. “Our shared challenge is either making meaningful changes to the policy that exists today or explaining why meaningful change cannot be made."

But Derek Spicer, senior training captain at Airbus, warned that the FAA faces a tough task trying to sort through whether PEDs pose a risk during takeoff and landing. Spicer said he has never experienced “electromagnetic” interference as a result of PEDs on a flight, but other pilots have reported problems. “As we produce aircraft, which are going to have a service life of maybe 25 to 30 years, it’s very difficult to predict what kinds of devices we're going to be using in years to come,” Spicer said.

Spicer said the FAA rulemaking is unusual in that it was prompted by customer demand, rather than safety concerns. “Certification is a very slow, labored process,” he said. “As operators of airliners, as manufacturers of airliners, we're not driven by the customers, we're driven by the safety standard.” Spicer also said some models of commercial aircraft appear more likely to face problems if the rules for PED use are relaxed. “The older aircraft, the early analog aircraft appear to be pretty good. Everything that’s coming out recently -- the Boeing 787 the latest Airbuses -- seem to be well protected,” he said. Some middle-aged models pose the greatest risks, he said.

But Spicer said there’s little consensus even on the question of which aircraft might experience problems if more use of PEDs is allowed. “A lot of the evidence is anecdotal,” he said. “And, actually, how do you test? I'm not a flight test engineer but how do you test for electromagnetic interference in a verifiable way?”

Pal Bjordal, CEO of AeroMobile, said studies show that 20-30 devices are left on during take off and landing on an average flight, often inadvertently by flyers. “We have never seen an aircraft affected by this,” he said. The company builds systems that allow mobile calls on aircraft, which are not permitted in the U.S. and a few other countries. Bjordal also touched briefly on a second issue, whether U.S. rules for cellphone use should also be revised. “Passengers don’t understand when they're using their phone on a plane why they have to switch them off over certain countries,” he said. “So today as they enter American air space they leave our service. … Usage is accepted as a normal part of the flight now. It just becomes inconvenient."

Misener said the complicated testing process is why there has been little movement so far by aviation authorities on PEDs. “The rules have devolved to the point to where each airline is required to test each device with each plane and therefore no testing gets done, no certification gets done,” he said. Meanwhile, “the gigantic experiment, which is people leaving their devices on anyway, goes on.” Misener, a former FCC and NTIA official, said the FCC could help by testing PEDs against the emission masks of sensitive electronic systems used by aircraft in flight. “There are certain frequencies that are just more sensitive than others,” he said. “Safety is the goal here, right? It’s just how far do you take it?”