>
> "Gene S. Berkowitz"
verizon.net> wrote in message
> news:MPG.21f4c365f142e8c79898d5@news.verizon.net...>> In article
newssvr21.news.prodigy.net>, paul-@-
>> edgehill.net says...>>>
>>> Has there ever been any interference from any electronic device more
>>> than the slightest twitch? How about shielding the navigation system if
>>> it is so sensitive? This is all complete nonsense!
>>
>> If you shield a navigation system, such as VOR, it no longer works,
>> because its entire purpose is to receive navigation signals via RF.
>>
>> Though anecdotal, the incidents in the cite below (mind the line break)
>> should cause anyone to take pause about using their gadgets. That said,
>> a part of the ban is behavioral; the flight crew prefers that you pay
>> attention to THEM, not your toys or hobby, during takeoff and landing,
>> where by far the majority of flight incidents occur.
>>
>>
http://www.rvs.uni-
>> bielefeld.de/publications/Incidents/DOCS/Research/Rvs/Article/EMI.html
>>
>>> Of course I wouldn't bother to argue this with a steward or stewardess
>>> but I don't hesitate to take pictures on takeoff discretely either and
>>> I'm likely not alone.
>>
>> ..and I'm probably not alone in pointing out such behavior to the flight
>> crew when I see it.
>>
>> --Gene
>>
>
> The article you refer to above doesn't seem to refer to digital cameras:
>
>
http://www.rvs.uni-bielefeld.de/publications/Incidents/DOCS/Research/Rvs/Article/EMI...
>
> It identified cell phones, laptop computers, radio cassette and CD players,
> electronic games, and heart monitors as being problems.
>
> I can understand the concern with items such as cell phones, laptop
> computers, and GPS units, but I don't think the above article refers to
> problems caused through the use of digital cameras. I think that banning
> passengers from taking digital still pictures during take-offs and landings
> should be carefully considered by airlines before adopting it as policy.
Oh, for crissakes.
Get this through your head: your digital camera IS a computer.
It is NOT a conventional camera with magical film. It is a small
plastic and metal package crammed with a high-speed microprocessor, RAM
& FLASH memory, bus, CMOS array, read amplifiers, stepper motor(s) and
H-bridge driver for same, voltage regulators, switches, battery,
charging/gas gauge circuits, USB interface, loudspeaker, amplifier for
same, video signal generator, and more.
In those respects, it is the SAME as a cell phone, laptop, GPS, gameboy,
CD/DVD player, PDA, or any of hundreds of other devices that have taken
advantage of cheap, powerful microprocessors to keep human beings from
being bored while hurtling at high speed in an aluminum cigar tube
loaded with thousands of pounds of kerosene miles from the ground.
The airlines are not in a position to determine which of the hundreds of
thousands of devices are or are not going be a potential source of
interference.
So, they politely ask that you refrain from turning such devices on for
ten or twenty minutes at the beginning and end of each flight. But you
seem to believe that if it isn't EXPLICITLY prohibited, you should be
exempt, because you don't THINK it's a problem.
--Gene
