‘I’d Rather Be Hit in the Head by an iPad Mini Than a 650-Page Book’

Nick Bilton continues his crusade against the FAA’s mindless rules regarding consumer electronics:

These conflicts have been going on for several years. In 2010, a 68-year-old man punched a teenager because he didn’t turn off his phone. Lt. Kent Lipple of the Boise Police Department in Idaho, who arrested the puncher, said the man “felt he was protecting the entire plane and its occupants.” And let’s not forget Alec Baldwin, who was kicked off an American Airlines plane in 2011 for playing Words With Friends online while parked at the gate.

Dealing with the F.A.A. on this topic is like arguing with a stubborn teenager. The agency has no proof that electronic devices can harm a plane’s avionics, but it still perpetuates such claims, spreading irrational fear among millions of fliers.

Disgraceful for a U.S. government agency to be spreading what amounts to nothing more than voodoo.

★ Monday, 31 December 2012