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Will we go back to DXing at 30,000 feet?

C

crainbebo

Heard a couple days ago that the FAA wants to reverse the rule on no electronics at takeoff and landing. This includes iPods, iPads, Kindles, etc. Will this rule be added to FM radios or Walkmans? Or will airliners still ban those due to aircraft interference? Honestly I'd like to go 38,000 feet above the Rockies and try to hear 300-400+ mi DX on the FM...

Here's a link to the story
http://www.freep.com/article/201203...t-e-reader-use-flights-during-takeoff-landing

-crainbebo
 
Will this rule be added to FM radios or Walkmans?
Click to expand...

I am no expert, but all electronic devices don't pose the same threat to avionics equipment in the same way that FM radios do.

Unfortunately, FM is right next to an aeronautical band in frequency, and also the Intermediate Frequency in some FM receivers may be dangerously close to the IF in some very sensitive and safety critical airline communications and navigation equipment. And the conventional wisdom has always been that "it's just not worth taking the risk." Keep the FMs off.

What's coming off the other devices, like tablet computers, is more like white noise, it can still interfere with avionics the same way lighting in the distance can, or regular static messes up AM radio, but the theoretical "threat" from FM radios is more specific. As far as we know, an airliner has never been brought down by an FM radio, but nobody wants to increase the theoretical risk that that may happen, especially with airliners using automatic landing systems, where a one second glitch could cause a wing to dip into the ground, or a plane to stray off the centerline and hit other planes or terminals. FM listening just ain't worth risking those scenarios.
 
Call me naugty, ;D but I did that on a flight from Sacramento to Denver back in 1990. This was also before the announcement of not doing such things. It was a morning flight at about 7 a.m. and I was able to get KMEL 106.1 from San Francisco for at least 90 minutes. A best guess would be that it carried at least to Ely, NV if not further. Since the flight went south of the salt flats, I couldn't tell when we crossed from Nevada into Utah.
On a side note, didn't Mythbusters touch on this issue?
 
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