The work is ongoing at ETSI (European Telecommunication Standards Institute) on providing covergae for mobile 'phones in aircraft. As the aircraft will have its own base station aboard, the mobiles will be at minimum power. Addirionally, it is currently envisaged that the use will only be permitted above 10,000 feet. It seems the main demand for this comes from the airlines, because they will CHARGE (and then some!) for the calls. These days, they need any revenue they can get....
Westlakes, yes, anything over about 5 watts could cause a problem. One of the reasons for the ban was in the hey day of illegal CB, where people found that running an illegal CB with a 100 watt amplifier in the car while filling up made the petrol pump severley underestimate the quantity delivered. If you strictly enforce the 'no radio transmitters' rule on a forecourt, you wouldn't let people lock their car doors while they went to pay, unless they physically inserted the key in the lock, rather than pressing a button! I'm a bit surprised one of our more enterprising police forces hasn't tried raising their prosecution rates by sitting in a petrol station....
Jetset lady,
Yes, I can imagine your irritation at picking up the bloody rabbit! And at the bit where it says 'Always make sure your own mask is correctly fitted before helping anyone else', I would like to see added 'If you have more than one child, decide which one you love the most'. And I doubt very much if the light in demo life jacket has a good battery, so there's no point in throwing water at you! Anyway, that would be rude.........
Still, I should complain about the video. I get the whole month of July without flying anywhere.
More seriously, have the airlines given any thought to the growing proliferation of personal medical electronic devices using radio?