Comments on: Airline hypocrisy: is this Tablet PC sending orders wirelessly?

By: Donovan Long

Donovan Long — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:54:09 +0000

That's an LE1600 in the photo, of course.

By: Reader

Reader — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 01:12:38 +0000

Haha. Although I will say that there is a possibility that some of these devices may interfere with the instruments, the possibility is rather small.

I know of a flight where 300+ people in an airplane all played some game in groups on Nintendo DS over wifi. That’s 300+ wifi connections.
Plane landed safely … no intereference.

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 06:22:48 +0000

Just as a note: British Airways allows passengers to use Bluetooth devices during flight.

By: Will

Will — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:12:28 +0000

One of the main reasons that mobile phones are not allowed on planes is because if they were, you'd have 300 people yapping away for the entire flight, and everyone would murder one another. It's bad enough having to listen to other peoples useless banter on buses and trains, but on a flight, it would be just cruel.

By: TateJ

TateJ — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:11:14 +0000

As a former pilot, I can attest that wireless devices can interfere with aircraft systems. Its happened to me twice while in flight. One of those times was with a wifi device.

First timne caused my VOR ( Navigation Receiver) to indicate I was off course. Since the autopilot was coupled to the VOR receiver, the plan started a nice coordinated turn to “correct” my course. When the passenger’s laptop was powered down, all was well.

The other time was a cell phone turned on while I was in final approach to the airport. Caused the ILS ( another navigation receiver used when landing in bad weather) to indicate I was off course. Not cool when trying to land in instrument conditions. Again, use of the off button cured all worries.

I will qualify the above events. I was not flying an airliner. I was flying larger charter aircraft. (King Air 200′s.)

I’ve heard stories from friends who do fly Airliners about cell phones, computers and even a cheap dvd player that messed with aircraft electronics.

If the Aircrew says turn it off, please turn it off. I’m sure these tablets the flight attendants use for Virgin Atlantic have been throughly tested in the make and model of airplane and shown not to interfere with aircraft systems.

By: turn.self.off

turn.self.off — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:39:44 +0000

im guessing its the same here as with mobile phones in hospitals. better safe then sorry…

as in, the staff and so on can use it, as their stuff have been tested. but who knows what happens when some random device is dragged within range?

but then there is also the mythbusters episode when they try to test out the stuff, and get to talk to a technician. from what i recall there had been episodes where the strobes on the outside of the aircraft had interfered with instruments inside…

so i suspect its more a case of covering their asses in face of some insurance claim then anything else…

By: tnkgrl

tnkgrl — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:38:38 +0000

This was covered by Engadget when they reviewed the Virgin America's Airbus A320 as a gadget... Apparently, the orders are either sent from the tablet to the on-board server wirelessly (or when the tablet is docked - can't remember) and transactions are then processed after landing! Also, Virgin America will be implementing WiFi in most (if not all) of its fleet shortly. http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/10/mega-hands-on-virgin-americas-airbus-a320-with-red-in-flight-e/ http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/10/hands-on-with-virgin-americas-red-in-flight-entertainment-syste/ http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/13/aircell-set-to-hook-up-virgin-america-with-in-flight-broadband/

By: Ben2k

Ben2k — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:09:33 +0000

The new 787 will have Wifi for crew use when it is delivered. It was supposed to have the option for passenger Wifi, but with the demise of Boeing's Connexion Internet service, that became moot.

By: Kilrah

Kilrah — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:00:58 +0000

For the record, WiFi is low enough power to be used on airplanes. Lufthansa even carried free wireless internet on some of its transatlantic flights for a few months last year before dropping the idea. Pretty funny to be chatting with someone when you know he's at 35000ft above the amiddle of the atlantic and moving at 900km/h at that moment.

By: Telin

Telin — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:42:29 +0000

that was her pleasant reaction when she noticed i had ordered her for the next 20minutes in the airplane bathroom, wah haha

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:45:15 +0000

This is pretty cool. Tablet computers sure are making their way up the food chain!