Satsuma,
I tell most people I know not to go flying in helicopters, as I know most of the pilots....
My nearest and dearest only fly with me!
No one has proven that texting has caused this accident, the guy just didn't have his mind on the job, and texting while flying pax is just rude, I don't do it. You owe them a duty of care, they have put their faith in u. If you want to add additional risks, do it solo, when you only endanger yourself.
I just can't see how a ban could possibly hope to work.
As soon as u place a ban, it creates all sorts of problems, can u txt while sitting in a cockpit rotors in motion? Some smart lawyer will tell u that if u are writing it in your logbook as flight time, then you are flying. So now cell phones off while in the cockpit! North Sea ops, that's probably a good idea.
I still think that lots of things can be done safely while flying. I've seen some guys take longer to read a map than I take to txt, and they have their head down wobbling all over the place!
As an example, why couldn't you have preset texts, which I do, nice short ones, like, on my way, or what ever, you have the phone set up, txt ready, lift off, climb out, once you hit what ever altitude so that u have phone coverage, hit the phone, hit send, done. My phone shows the latest txt on the front screen, so it takes less than 2-3 seconds to see if what has come in is k, short for ok, our standard reply, or if someone has written a novel.
If I'm close to the ground I don't even try it... No different to the phone ringing while hovering with my head out the door, I just let it ring, it goes to answer phone, next time I get a chance the screen will tell me who rang, then I can decide if I land and call them, if I hit call back while flying, or if it can wait till I'm in the office, or never...
And I think the decision not to put more fuel in, or to be to wrapped up in unimportant texting has more to do with it, than just texting.
And I can drink beer, watch rugby and check out the cheerleaders all at the same time, and I'm concentrating on all three, maybe I'm clever!
