Summary
Organizations representing flight attendants are urging their members to contact the Federal Communications Commission and oppose a proposal to loosen the federal agency's ban on the use of cell phones in flight. Union representatives fear that passengers would talk on cell phones and ignore safety directives from flight attendants.
Original source:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2002217006_webaircell23.html
Details
There's only been one steady refuge from cell phones: a plane in flight.
And at the frontlines are the nation's flight attendants.
"Yes, the last bastion of peace is being threatened," said Jeanne Elliott, regulatory affairs coordinator for the Professional Flight Attendants Association at Northwest Airlines.
The association is urging its 11,000 members to write the Federal Communications Commission to oppose an end to the federal agency's in-flight cell phone ban, or at least urge a most cautious relaxation of it.
The union's biggest concern is that folks would be gabbing on their cell phones while ignoring critical safety directives from flight attendants.
The FCC is taking public comment on the matter until March 31.
Also rallying members against any relaxation of restrictions on in-flight cellular chitchat is the Association of Flight Attendants, which represents more than 40,000 flight attendants at 26 airlines, including United and US Airways.
No matter what the FCC does, however, smart airlines still won't allow cellular chat in flight, said Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, which represents major corporate purchasers of travel services.
"They won't touch it with a 100-foot fuselage," he said.
The CTIA, a wireless industry trade group, is careful about what it says.
"We believe all the technology challenges will be overcome, and this service could be available," said spokesman Joe Farren.
Up on the flight deck, pilots won't have to listen to passengers' gab.
The pilots are most concerned with any possible interference with navigational systems and other critical electronics, said John Mazor, spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association.
"There have been anecdotal reports of electronic devices interfering with navigational systems," he said.
Weighing heavily in any relaxation of FAA restrictions will be a report due next year from the RCTA, the Requirements and Technical Concepts for Aviation, a group comprised of dozens of representatives from the
airlines, plane manufacturers, wireless service providers and phone manufacturers, airline employees and other interested parties.
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate and award-winning journalist with a passion for sharing empowering information to help improve personal and planetary health He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, and he is well known as the creator of popular downloadable preparedness programs on financial collapse, emergency food storage, wilderness survival and home defense skills. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2010, Adams co-founded NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing site that has now grown in popularity. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also a successful software entrepreneur, having founded a well known email marketing software company whose technology currently powers the NaturalNews email newsletters. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates.
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Tuesday, April 05, 2005
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