FAA policy on electronics during flight to likely change before 2014
Exert from Arstechnica
Last year, the FAA went on the record with New York Times Bits Blog writer Nick Bilton and said they’d take a “fresh look” at their policies regarding electronic device usage during take-off and landing. This year Bilton is in touch with the powers that be again, and he reports everyone’s favorite flight procedure will likely change before 2014.
“According to people who work with an industry working group that the Federal Aviation Administration set up last year to study the use of portable electronics on planes, the agency hopes to announce by the end of this year that it will relax the rules for reading devices during takeoff and landing,” Biltonwrote.
Bilton’s sources had to remain anonymous due to policies that prohibit commenting on internal discussions, but he identified them as an FAA official and one member of a working group analyzing the current device situation. This working group is made up of individuals from a variety of industries: Amazon, the Consumer Electronics Association, Boeing, the Association of Flight Attendants, the Federal Communications Commission and aircraft makers, according to Bilton. They first met in January and plan to introduce findings by July 31.
The potential for change on this front has sparked some politicians to get involved with the FAA. Bilton spoke with Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) who said she’d introduce legislation to hold the organization accountable (her own frustrations stemming from iPads being used by flight personnel). And FCC chairman Julius Genachowski notably sent the FAA advocating for more electronics on planes.
If it feels like deja vu, Bilton’s “fresh look” report came out almost exactly one year ago. Then, Laura J. Brown, the FAA’s deputy assistant administrator for public affairs at the time, remained somewhat vague in her responses. So although this newest development comes from the word of anonymous sources, there is apparently a definite timeframe in place. Whether or not a change to flight device usage is even a good thing, it feels inevitable that something will happen.
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