Thursday, August 22, 2002
FAA on PDA use on planes
Posted by marlof in "NEWS" @ 12:40 AM
http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2002-08-19-pdas_x.htm
It seems like only yesterday that we were discussing the use of Pocket PC Phone Editions on board an airplane. It also seems that the FAA is not up-to-date with the latest technology when it comes to the use of electronic devices on planes.
I'll quote the linked USAToday article (source: PocketNow): "On a recent flight from Newark, N.J., to Orlando, Mike Corbo decided to check his e-mail. Instead of plugging into a $3.99-a-minute in-flight phone, he powered up his Palm VII and downloaded the messages wirelessly, at 35,000 feet. "I found that as long as we were flying over a major city, I would easily connect and send or receive e-mail without a problem," says the Lyndhurst, N.J., information systems manager. No one tried to stop Corbo because what he did is legal. The Federal Aviation Administration doesn't ban the onboard use of a personal digital assistant — even one that can connect to the Internet through a cellular network — according to FAA spokesman Paul Takemoto. "He isn't violating any rule," he says."
"Terry Wiseman, an expert on in-flight communications systems and editor of the newsletter Airfax.com, says people may bicker over where a PDA ends and a cell phone begins, but in some respects, both devices do the same thing. "A personal digital assistant may use less bandwidth to check e-mail, but basically you're using the same frequency as a cellular phone, and in much the same way," he says. He suggests that the government's policy on PDAs may be outdated, given the convergence of phones and computing devices."
New rules given the current convergence of devices might be a good thing. Because now this might lead to strange situations. I've heard quite the opposite stories from people using their Pocket PC Phone Edition that they were not allowed to use their PDA at all, not even with the phone switched off. The arial antenna of the T-Mobile / XDA betrays its powers to the flight attendants, and they are probably not aware of all the other possibilities of such a PDA / phone combination.
It is exactly for these situations that Microsoft has implemented a very easy way to switch off the phone (tapping the radio icon in the title bar, or holding the red button for a few seconds). If the phone is off, it remains off until you manually enable it again. Even a soft reset will not switch the phone back on. Although it's a Pocket PC / Phone combination, the unit can function as a standalone Pocket PC as well. Not only developers but also the FAA and flight attendants got to learn, and learn fast.
It seems like only yesterday that we were discussing the use of Pocket PC Phone Editions on board an airplane. It also seems that the FAA is not up-to-date with the latest technology when it comes to the use of electronic devices on planes.
I'll quote the linked USAToday article (source: PocketNow): "On a recent flight from Newark, N.J., to Orlando, Mike Corbo decided to check his e-mail. Instead of plugging into a $3.99-a-minute in-flight phone, he powered up his Palm VII and downloaded the messages wirelessly, at 35,000 feet. "I found that as long as we were flying over a major city, I would easily connect and send or receive e-mail without a problem," says the Lyndhurst, N.J., information systems manager. No one tried to stop Corbo because what he did is legal. The Federal Aviation Administration doesn't ban the onboard use of a personal digital assistant — even one that can connect to the Internet through a cellular network — according to FAA spokesman Paul Takemoto. "He isn't violating any rule," he says."
"Terry Wiseman, an expert on in-flight communications systems and editor of the newsletter Airfax.com, says people may bicker over where a PDA ends and a cell phone begins, but in some respects, both devices do the same thing. "A personal digital assistant may use less bandwidth to check e-mail, but basically you're using the same frequency as a cellular phone, and in much the same way," he says. He suggests that the government's policy on PDAs may be outdated, given the convergence of phones and computing devices."
New rules given the current convergence of devices might be a good thing. Because now this might lead to strange situations. I've heard quite the opposite stories from people using their Pocket PC Phone Edition that they were not allowed to use their PDA at all, not even with the phone switched off. The arial antenna of the T-Mobile / XDA betrays its powers to the flight attendants, and they are probably not aware of all the other possibilities of such a PDA / phone combination.
It is exactly for these situations that Microsoft has implemented a very easy way to switch off the phone (tapping the radio icon in the title bar, or holding the red button for a few seconds). If the phone is off, it remains off until you manually enable it again. Even a soft reset will not switch the phone back on. Although it's a Pocket PC / Phone combination, the unit can function as a standalone Pocket PC as well. Not only developers but also the FAA and flight attendants got to learn, and learn fast.
