Nov 01 2013

Freedom of flight – No longer can we flummox the navigation system

Flight Attendant: Sir, I’m going to have to ask that you turn off your cellular phone.
Toby Ziegler: We’re flying in a Lockheed Eagle Series L-1011. Came off the line twenty months ago. Carries a Sim-5 transponder tracking system. And you’re telling me I can still flummox this thing with something I bought at Radio Shack?
—- 1.01: The Pilot.

Hooray! At last!

No longer do we risk bringing down a $300 million A380 and it’s 800 passengers by listening to Jack Johnson during take off.
It’s Soduku all the way to the terminal.

In a press release today the US FAA announced that it is safe to use our iPods, iPhones and iPads (or all at once) at all times during a flight. Currently, airlines insist that electronic devices are all turned off until 20 minutes after take off and for what seems like an eternity before landing. We can now reveal that this has always been a strategy to force us into reading their inflight magazines.

I accept the airlines’ apologies.

WASHINGTON– The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta today announced that the FAA has determined that airlines can safely expand passenger use of Portable Electronic Devices (PEDs) during all phases of flight, and is immediately providing the airlines with implementation guidance.