Comments on: Why can’t I use my laptop when the plane is taking off?

By: Peter Cox

Peter Cox — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:27:22 +0000

I agree completely with the previous comments - that was an excellent review and explanation, Ben, and the extra comments are quite helpful. Really instructive, and especially on the mark regarding the El Cheapo carriers.

Thanks also for the probability estimate of problems due to mobile phone use by passengers.
But for a long while I’ve thought the ban on mobile phones was shown to be based on compost thinking by the events of September 2001.

3 of the highjacked planes were brought down by the suicidal zealots responsible for the highjackings, not by the huge mobile phone traffic from the poor victims, while the fourth almost certainly crashed before its presumed target as a sad result of heroic action by passengers who’d apparently heard on their mobiles what had happened to the other 3 hijacked aircraft and didn’t want to suffer the same fate without fighting back.

By: Gavin Moodie

Gavin Moodie — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:03:32 +0000

Thanx very much, Ben. Most informative and with your supplementary on ipods this answers all my questions. As a bonus I now understand why trays and seats ‘must be returned to the upright position’ as the steward says.

I find it so much easier to follow rules when I know the reason for them.

By: Ben Sandilands

Ben Sandilands — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:36:13 +0000

Robert,

I just checked with a flight attendant.

He says the drill once a jet has stopped and the exits are sprung is ‘seat belts off’ followed by ‘women remove high heeled shoes’. Commands made as each flight attendant unbuckles, and leaps up to operate doors and slides.

However he confirms that flight attendants, particularly those seated opposite passengers, will often remind passengers with normal shoes not to remove them prior to the jet being established in climb because of the injuries that have been documented on people running barefoot through burning debris or fuel.

The high heeled shoes off command is of overriding importance however, as they not only damage slides, but can cause wearers to fall over, and also critically slow them down if they use an overwing exit then have to clamber or jump off a wing.

Craig,

There is a minor issue with iPhone or similar head sets impairing hearing, but the major issue is in the seconds that may be left for you to locate, retrieve and put on your life jacket and avoid your hands or somebody else’s getting tangled up in something still hanging around your neck. Life vest locations can be awkward. In some seats as you have to double up and feel around for it. Add in smoke,and mayhem, and the last thing you need is a tangle.

By: bakerboy

bakerboy — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:31:47 +0000

Ben - Good article. I wouldn’t really want to be on a FBW jet with 120 people talking on phones or using the internet. I can remember (pre 9/11) being on the flight deck of our RPTs as a visitor with the pilots talking to mum and the kids on a mobile. Also, I always wonder why the airlines don’t enforce proper covered footwear on aircraft. Rubber thongs are quite common in Oz.

By: Craig Preston

Craig Preston — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:19:31 +0000

Documented technical reasons are still unclear. It’s more an actuarial approach: we haven’t tested most (any) of these devices so we don’t know what, if any, risk they pose. So let’s keep them off. Same reason hospitals ask you to turn off your phone if you’re near “the machine that goes ping”.

Understand the veto on laptops as an access problem at take-off and landing, but why iPods?

By: Robert Garnett

Robert Garnett — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:17:39 +0000

Ben are you right about leaving your shoes on? I thought they made you take them off so you wouldn’t damage the inflatable escape slides when disembarking? Like you I thought it was pretty silly to take them off given the fire hazard. I recall that passengers disembarking a burning heavy jet that had veered off the runway had badly burned feet and legs as they ended up paddling around in burning kero.

By: Tamas Calderwood

Tamas Calderwood — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:49:31 +0000

Informative and hilarious article Ben.

“An open laptop in a Jetstar or Tiger flight is a physical triumph…”

“Ryanair, which appears to hate its customers…”

etc.

Just too funny.