FAA to pilots : No More Personal Wireless Devices in the Cockpit

"In February 2009, the co-pilot in Colgan Air Flight 3407 sent a text message on her personal cellphone after the plane pulled away from the gate, about 5 minutes before it was cleared for takeoff. The flight later crashed, killing 50 people."

If only she hadn't sent that text.
 
trafficinsight said:
"In February 2009, the co-pilot in Colgan Air Flight 3407 sent a text message on her personal cellphone after the plane pulled away from the gate, about 5 minutes before it was cleared for takeoff. The flight later crashed, killing 50 people."

If only she hadn't sent that text.
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That was exactly what I thought when reading that
 
trafficinsight said:
"In February 2009, the co-pilot in Colgan Air Flight 3407 sent a text message on her personal cellphone after the plane pulled away from the gate, about 5 minutes before it was cleared for takeoff. The flight later crashed, killing 50 people."

If only she hadn't sent that text.
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Didn't they crash mid-way through the flight? What would a text before takeoff have to do with that? I could see if they crashed on takeoff because of something she missed from being on the cell, but not half-way to your destination (or nearly there).
 
American has iPads?! Last I heard they were going with some kind of Android tablet (I could easily be wrong here).
 
amjon said:
Didn't they crash mid-way through the flight? What would a text before takeoff have to do with that? I could see if they crashed on takeoff because of something she missed from being on the cell, but not half-way to your destination (or nearly there).
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They crashed on approach. I think you were missing his sarcasm.
 
If only you had read the next paragraph.

The problem is that our profession, as we all know, is under constant public scrutiny because of the trust that they, the public, put into our hands, and we have to be watchful of our actions so we don't portray an unprofessional image. We love to complain about being viewed as "over-glorified bus drivers" yet I find more and more examples of pilots acting in a manner that does not deserve the respect we are asking for, which is very disappointing.

As far as the ban that the article is suggesting, we all know that the intense multi-tasking required of a pilot during a high-workload environment places much higher demands on us than a text message. But it is a matter of principle. Although radio calls, for example, are distracting, they are necessary for the operation of the flight. A personal text message induces an unnecessary distraction into the cockpit and it simply has no business being there. Just my two cents.
 
trafficinsight said:
"In February 2009, the co-pilot in Colgan Air Flight 3407 sent a text message on her personal cellphone after the plane pulled away from the gate, about 5 minutes before it was cleared for takeoff. The flight later crashed, killing 50 people."

If only she hadn't sent that text.
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And had more than 1500 hours at date of hire.

Errrrr
 
Meh. Not to worried about not being able to call someone, when I can't call them anyways because I have no service. And I'm usually to busy to do anything with my phone, that's usually already in airplane mode to conserve battery anyway while I'm on the ground. So, in essence, nothing has changed.
 
mshunter said:
Meh. Not to worried about not being able to call someone, when I can't call them anyways because I have no service. And I'm usually to busy to do anything with my phone, that's usually already in airplane mode to conserve battery anyway while I'm on the ground. So, in essence, nothing has changed.
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Not even to crew scheduling???
 
Already against most company rules, wouldn't really change anything.

Trying to regulate things like this is pointless. Those who are going to do it are going to do it.

Really the only way to enforce it is when someone with authority is on the jumpseat OR something happens (usually unrelated) and they find out from the CVR.

My personal feelings are there's nothing wrong with a little angry birds or light reading in level cruise. Reading the newspaper as you turn base is a little different.

I really think that if I'm able to keep my mind occupied with something I'm going to be sharper. The key is you can't get completely engrossed with what you're doing. You are reading while flying an airplane, not the other way around.

Unfortunately the rules are the rules and I try to follow them to the best of my ability.
 
Screaming_Emu said:
Already against most company rules, wouldn't really change anything.

Trying to regulate things like this is pointless. Those who are going to do it are going to do it.

Really the only way to enforce it is when someone with authority is on the jumpseat OR something happens (usually unrelated) and they find out from the CVR.

My personal feelings are there's nothing wrong with a little angry birds or light reading in level cruise. Reading the newspaper as you turn base is a little different.

I really think that if I'm able to keep my mind occupied with something I'm going to be sharper. The key is you can't get completely engrossed with what you're doing. You are reading while flying an airplane, not the other way around.

Unfortunately the rules are the rules and I try to follow them to the best of my ability.
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I would never violate any rule that has ever existed at my company, or at the federal level, nor would I ever admit to doing so on the internets.
 
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