Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

The FAA continues to ban electronic devices on parts of commercial flights. Technical: they cannot test all devices for EMC. Political: they cannot withstand the fallout of a mistake.

The FAA continues to ban electronic devices during the takeoff and landing portions of commercial flights. This continues to exasperate just about everyone. There are two basic reasons: technical and political.

First the Technical. The FAA cannot test everything for EMC – Electro Magnetic Compatibility. EMC means that one device, like my iPad, will operate compatibly with another device, like the electronics that control the airliner. The iPad will not interfere with the airplane. The FAA could fly a plane up and down while volunteers sat in it using their iPads. Okay, one device down. Well, at least one version of one device. Every few months Apple changes something inside the iPad. Hence, the FAA would have to repeat the test with the iPad every few months. Now let’s see, how many different electronic devices are there? Maybe a couple of thousand? The FAA would have to test every single one of them every few months to be sure.

And that is the point:

The FAA would have to be 100% sure.

Why the surety requirement? Now we come to the Political reason. If the FAA allowed electronic devices during landings and one plane crashed during a landing, there would be a riot. (I use the term “riot” to describe the public outcry about the FAA allowing such a plane crash to happen.) Government agencies hate riots. They hate riots more than they hate plane crashes. Plane crashes don’t close government agencies; riots can close government agencies.

Hence, the FAA takes the least expensive and least risky path.

Just say No.

Well, that is a government bureaucracy for you.