“The fact is, the radio frequencies that are assigned for aviation use are separate from commercial use,” Mr. Altschul said. “Plus, the wiring and instruments for aircraft are shielded to protect them from interference from commercial wireless devices.”
Mr. Dorr reluctantly agreed. “There have never been any reported accidents from these kinds of devices on planes,” he said.
Uh, don’t people get it? Of COURSE it has nothing to do with the interference of frequencies. This is just a guess — but here is my logic of thought:
1- The majority of mechanical or other problems that arise during a flight happen during take-off and landing — btw, I have no stats on this, so please prove me wrong — this is based purely on my own observation of news items involving plane crashes/accidents in my 36 years as a human being.
2 – Thus, it’s kind of important as a passenger to not be distracted during take-off and landing in case anything goes wrong and you do have to pull out your life vest and oxygen while at the same time listening to the flight attendants’ instructions, which could indeed save your life.
3- Portable electronic devices are a pretty big distraction, period. Well, most of them are (I’d probably argue that a Kindle or a camera is less of a distraction than Angry Birds on your iPhone).
4- We’re likely being asked to turn off our devices so that we’re not hugely distracted in the event of there being a problem during take-off or landing.
As a teacher, I have always suspected this was the case. I have always doubted that the reason had to do with any kind of wireless frequencies. But I still do think we should keep these devices off during take-off and landing — I for one want to be 100% aware in the event of some kind of aircraft problem that needs my attention… dunno ’bout you.