Originally Posted by
Oakape
And there is perhaps the biggest problem! Some people have no concept of the danger & will always do what they want to do, even if they are aware that it is not allowed. I don't know if they think they know better than the experts, or if they just feel it is worth the risk of putting everyone's life in jeopardy in order to achieve their objective. It is the same with mobile phones. People don't power them off (I know the rules have recently changed in some countries) & I've even had a lady sitting beside me making calls while in the air. Denied it of course when the flight attendant questioned her.
I don't know how you can effectively combat this mentality.
The anecdotes you gave are typical. But for a moment look at it from the pax point of view. Taxi out at US hub, no problem using tablets, phones (in airplane mode)... land on in Europe and they must be off and stowed. Why? Well its the regulators _not_ the safety aspects.
A related issue - I was sent a spare rechargeable Lithium Ion battery for a headset. The battery was about the size of the top joint of my little finger. It came in a box 9 inches deep and around 3 feet square filled with clever packaging and plastered with all the regulatory warnings.
This type of over reaction and illogical regulatory disagreements bring the entire safety culture into disrepute. The pax think its just officialdom being awkward because they like being awkward and imposing 'meaningless rules'. In many the pax
are right there are lots of 'rules' that are pure CYA and have no technical merit So just like crying wolf too many times, these regulations are just not believed and that includes the real threats - how does an average SLF know the difference between rules there for no real reason (often the majority) and a rule that is really required?
Regulators need to get their act together and have verified quantified risks to justify each 'safety' rule and have them consistent worldwide.