FAA may ease rules on electronic devices on planes
WASHINGTON – With the blessing of an influential advisory panel, federal regulators are closer to letting airline passengers use their smartphones, tablets, e-readers and other electronic gadgets during takeoffs and landings.
The 28-member FAA advisory committee voted to recommend the change during a closed-door meeting Thursday, said industry officials familiar with the deliberations. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the government asked them not to talk publicly about their deliberations.
The recommendation will be sent Monday to the Federal Aviation Administration, which has final say on whether to ease current restrictions on the use of personal electronic devices on planes.
If the panel’s advice is followed, passengers would have greater opportunity to use most devices below an altitude of 10,000 feet, although some devices would have to be switched to airplane mode. Downloading data, surfing the Web and talking on the phone would remain prohibited.
“You will not be able to play ‘Words With Friends,’ you will not be able to shop, you will not be able to surf websites or send email,” said Henry Harteveldt, an airline and travel industry analyst with Hudson Crossing who was reacting to word of the recommended change.
“You will be able to read or work on what’s stored on the device,” he said. “You want to edit that PowerPoint? Great. You want to watch ‘Breaking Bad’ and you have it downloaded to your smartphone or your tablet? You can continue to do that.”
Passengers are currently required to turn off phones and other electronic devices while planes are below 10,000 feet to prevent interference with sensitive cockpit equipment. Takeoffs and landings are the most critical phases of flight. But newer aircraft are better equipped to prevent electronic interference, and critics long have complained that the safety concerns behind the regulations are groundless.
“We’ve been fighting for our customers on this issue for years – testing an airplane packed full of Kindles, working with the FAA and serving as the device manufacturer on this committee,” Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener said in a statement. “This is a big win for customers, and frankly, it’s about time.”
“These devices are not dangerous. Your Kindle isn’t dangerous. Your iPad that is on airplane mode is perfectly safe,” Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who has been pressing the FAA to lift the restrictions, said in an interview.
It’s up to FAA officials whether to follow the committee’s recommendations. The agency created the committee, put several of its employees on the panel and was closely involved in the deliberations, so it’s expected that all or most of the recommendations will be implemented. How long that will take is unclear.