AMU Homeland Security Opinion

Okay Passengers, You May Now Turn On Your Electronic Devices During Take-Offs and Landings. Thanks For Your Cooperation.

Brett Daniel Shehadey
Special Contributor for In Homeland Security

Useless laws and regulations, we have plenty. They make us feel better. They resolve a political need for officer holders to appease public concern. And this is the problem. Rules and regulations are only as good as they have function and value.

This outdated regulation that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) held on to for some fifty years has finally been partially lifted. Why? Because it IS actually safe to fly with electronic devices operating during all points of commercial plane flight. In fact, if it was not, they would have had to discount all other electronic devices that generate an electromagnetic field (EMF)- the lights, the AC and all of those TV screens that produce massive EM fields in comparison to cell phones. Then there is little justification for smaller and smaller devices producing lesser and lesser EMF to be restricted from use.

The truth is that technology has changed, but this new FAA restriction lift is so far behind the times. TVs monitors that are turned on at all before the so called critical moments of communication make this a moot point. The old FM transistor radios in the 1950s were a previous concern. That should give the American people the extent at which standard operating procedures still in place are often frozen in time. These were shielded from EMF since the 1960s.

Talking on the phone is still restricted. It produces more EMF?but not much. That’s why one is directed to use the special “pay” phones on the plane, which actually produce the same amount. The use of the internet via WiFi is limited to airline provider services as well and is blocked by private airline industry, but in this case, not the not the FAA or other agencies.

The FAA posted the reasons in 2009 for passenger portable electronic devices (PEDs) as “safety”: “There are still unknowns about the radio signals that portable electronic devices (PEDs) and cell phones give off. These signals, especially in large quantities and emitted over a long time, may unintentionally affect aircraft communications, navigation, flight control and electronic equipment. Federal Aviation Administration regulations prohibit use of most portable electronic devices aboard aircraft, but they specifically exempt portable voice recorders, hearing aids, heart pacemakers and electric shavers because they don’t give off signals that might interfere with aircraft systems. The FAA has issued guidance to airlines letting passengers turn on most PEDs after the plane reaches 10,000 feet. At a lower altitude, any potential interference could be more of a safety hazard as the cockpit crew focuses on critical arrival and departure duties.”

Now it’s okay in 2013 but not talking. A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ban on talking on cell phones continues to regulate but demand further testing of cell phones and their effect on flight operations. That was in 1991. Consideration to repeal the cell phone ban on airplanes was almost removed in 2004 but the modification was removed entirely. Keep in mind that this was in the wake of September 11 and the high security climate in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) within the next year.

FAA mandated commercial airline or Transportation Security Administration (TSA) within the DHS, the restrictions are often more a window-dressing political hurdle when they should be employing and enforcing relevant security precautions. I saw a lady knitting on the plane with 18 inch long aluminum needles but I was unable to bring a one and a half inch pocket knife. Surely there are many other stories out there.

As for the TSA, not to go into it, any trained terrorist will not need a weapon at all. The human hands, arms and head can be conditioned as weapons in various martial arts or training programs all over the world.

While there should be some outrage of public trust from the frequent flyer populace, instead there is relief and celebration among a domesticated list of American passengers. What does that say for the next “discovery” of a US security agency or law enforcement agency? These types of changes that promote less visibility are fantastic. As security precautions loosen, however, new and more advanced forms of security must be set in place. Passive detectors will eventually replace more obtrusive measures of body searches for explosive materials. Should they even be announced when they do arrive? It is always good to have multiple methods of tactical measures and simply the aurora of having such technology but not disclosing it, or not having it and making a compelling case to would be violent extremists is often needed.

Do we have it right? That should be the question by regulating bodies every year. Increase public safety based on reason and results. As for the use of more and more electronics on planes, whether personal or corporate, the airplane potentially becomes more and more of a microwave and the safety concern becomes far less one of ground communications or radio interferences and much more public health. But that’s another agency, not FAA.

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