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New FAA Rule Prohibits Non-Essential Use of Electronics in Airplane Cockpits
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There was also that Australian airline incident a few years ago where the Captain started getting loud text message alerts from his cell phone during landing.
Both pilots got so distracted while he tried to shut down his phone, that they forgot to lower the gear in time. The copilot finally spooled up the engines 400' above the runway and they did a go-around.
A medical helicopter also recently crashed while the pilot was sending text messages to set up a dinner date. I believe there have been small plane crashes for similar reasons recently.
Both pilots got so distracted while he tried to shut down his phone, that they forgot to lower the gear in time. The copilot finally spooled up the engines 400' above the runway and they did a go-around.
A medical helicopter also recently crashed while the pilot was sending text messages to set up a dinner date. I believe there have been small plane crashes for similar reasons recently.
I have no idea what you're referencing, if Oliver is supposed to be tipping me off. The bus has no official rules on talking, but from time to time someone will complain if a group is making too much noise. (The bus runs 24 hours a day, so it's not uncommon for people to try sleeping on the bus during the middle of the night.)
ATC tried getting hold of them for a good hour. They thought the aircraft was hijacked,
In Wichita, it was also a visual approach. ATC should have warned them, but they didn't; PIC and all.
BL.
Yes, its obviously better they sit there for hours with nothing really to do and fall asleep rather than use their iPad for non-essential tasks.
3 airports with almost the same runway heading i.e. 180 at night time with 3 matching VASI's.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.6770073,-97.305898,16392m/data=!3m1!1e3
Yes, its obviously better they sit there for hours with nothing really to do and fall asleep rather than use their iPad for non-essential tasks.
Actually it would be better if one pilot at a time took a nice nap. Many airlines such as British Airways and Quantas allow this.
What an iPad would be good for, is as a dead man's switch to make sure at least one pilot is awake. He'd have to keep the pad in use to prove it, otherwise it would sound a loud alarm.
That would help with the problem of BOTH pilots falling asleep, like happened with that airplane flying to Hilo from another Hawaiian island not long ago. Both pilots asleep like that over the ocean with limited fuel could easily turn into a disaster.
I know on the overshoot that the crew was essentially asleep at the stick. Totally unforgivable. I was referring to the Rapid City and Wichita incidents. Once as a PP flying VFR in a crowded and unfamiliar urban area I pointed myself at the wrong airport. I'd have figured it out pretty quickly I think but even before I could make the correction myself, Approach gave me a prompt correction on my heading and I said thank you very much. Catching mistakes, that's their job.
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That's it exactly. Especially at night the ground clutter can be intense. ATC has the big picture. I'm sure they catch mistakes all the time, but we only hear about the ones they miss for some reason.
You have a point, but it has probably more to do with the fact that a cell phone call ban would be harder to enforce for airlines, than for the FAA with their added legal clout of being able to impose civil fines.
An airline might ban an offender, who could then just fly a different airline, but the FAA could fine an offender progressively higher amounts for repeat offenses, with a possible nation wide ban to fly on any commercial airliner for the worst repeat offenders.
... is that the world we live in? You talk on a phone on a plane and now you permanently get stuck on a No Fly list? Don't get me wrong, but you're just being rude, not endangering anyone.
Don't shoot the messenger! I agree, public cell phone use, particularly in confined spaces, is rude as well as annoying, but upon reflection, such a law is a bit heavy-handed.
However, consideration and common courtesy seem to have gone out the window, and lawmakers are --perhaps knee-jerkingly-- responding to "consumer opposition to in-flight calling".
Business travelers in particular, aren't going to like this drafted bill.
