Good news for air passengers from the FAA!

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clevedon

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#926059 1-Nov-2013 22:40

Geektastic:
Dratsab: You also have to remember that this is in the US. I can see Air New Zealand taking a "cautious" approach (i.e.non implementation) until they can evaluate overseas experience.

Why? Assuming the CAA follow suit, Air NZ's planes are the same as everyone else's, excepting the fact that they are usually more expensive to sit in!

Oh no, another bad NZ business you have had to deal with.

Geektastic

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#926063 1-Nov-2013 22:49

clevedon:
Geektastic:
Dratsab: You also have to remember that this is in the US. I can see Air New Zealand taking a "cautious" approach (i.e.non implementation) until they can evaluate overseas experience.

Why? Assuming the CAA follow suit, Air NZ's planes are the same as everyone else's, excepting the fact that they are usually more expensive to sit in!

Oh no, another bad NZ business you have had to deal with.

I said they were expensive, not bad. But I am not going to be apologising for expecting higher standards than most seem willing to accept.

Geektastic

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#926068 1-Nov-2013 22:55

macuser: I wonder if people will pay attention to the safety instructions a the beginning of the flight now that they can put on headphones and zone out.

Does anyone do that now?!

I suspect most people know the lifejacket is under their seat, that the doors have 'Exit' written over the top and the yellow masks will drop down when required. There hasn't really been any new info in those briefings since I was a child flying around on holidays with my parents in the 70's - except that you can't smoke on the plane now, thank heavens.

On a school ski trip flight to Geneva in about 1980 ish, a couple of us appropriated the lifejackets from under our seats and tested them in the school pool once we got back. I well remember jumping from the high board and plunging to the bottom of the deep end, pulling the red tab and popping up like a cork from a bottle!

clevedon

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#926070 1-Nov-2013 22:57

Geektastic:
clevedon:
Geektastic:
Dratsab: You also have to remember that this is in the US. I can see Air New Zealand taking a "cautious" approach (i.e.non implementation) until they can evaluate overseas experience.

Why? Assuming the CAA follow suit, Air NZ's planes are the same as everyone else's, excepting the fact that they are usually more expensive to sit in!

Oh no, another bad NZ business you have had to deal with.

I said they were expensive, not bad.

Well quality does come at a price.

oxnsox

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#926140 2-Nov-2013 07:28

The delay for Air NZ will be associated with them making a new safety video that explains this. (Am not a fan of Betty White)
Personally I haven't turned devices off on domestic fflights for some years. Flight mode always, power down......nah. And I suspect there's many that do neither.

Dingbatt

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#926187 2-Nov-2013 10:48

So here is my commentary on the discussion;
Geektastic, you didn't appropriate a life jacket, you stole a piece of mandatory safety equipment,
Oxnsox , you are doing no harm with flight mode only, but don't complain if you get had up for not following crew's instructions, they have a regulatory authority to tell you to do stuff that must be complied with.
Once the CAA have okayed device use I'm pretty confident that there will be rapid uptake by the airlines here. They will not be wanting to be shown up by their competitors. In fact I would be surprised if they haven't already got something in the pipeline as the FAA decision has been signalled for months. AirNZ had GSM on some aircraft a while ago, but as I understand, the uptake was so low (due to high roaming charges I believe) that the equipment has been turned off. So I don't believe they will be tardy in instituting a change that will benefit their passengers at no cost to themselves.
I reckon they will still require passengers to not have earphones on during the safety video, this is a 'duty of care' thing, in that they have taken reasonable steps to ensure you have been informed of all the things that CAA says you have to be told.
If you really want things to move, then I suggest the best thing to do is contact the Minister of Transport (Garry Brownlee) or his Associate (Michael Woodhouse) and get the NZ regulations changed.
If you don't like the Betty White video (I don't either), you'll only have to wait a few months as they'll probably have a new one by then. I reckon the frequent changes are more to do do with people remaining interested and not zoning out, and in no small part to the viral marketing achieved by each new video bring posted online. Particularly in the USA.
And finally, I pity the poor hosties who are now going to have to put up with 'I know better' types, when it's not up to the crew as to what is and isn't allowed on a plane.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

hairy1

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#926212 2-Nov-2013 11:55

This post may come in for a bit of flak. A lot of geeks on GZ get in a tizzy over the mainstream media misreporting technology stuff. Several of the comments on this thread are irresponsible and some are misinformed.

In general the reason the aviation industry is so safe is due to regulation and anything that can't be tested is generally ruled out of being allowed on an aircraft. Anyone who is involved in the aviation industry will know how expensive any certified aircraft part is.

In the past PED's that are allowed to be used on aircraft must have been EMI tested to ensure they do not interfere with aircraft systems. EMI test results vary from device to device and even the iPad 1 has interference on some frequencies used by aircraft.

The risk with all this is that if there is an aircraft incident which can be attributed to a device (or even potentially attributed to a device) then the whole thing will be back to square one.

New Zealand CAA have a set of rules which differs from the FAA but they have stated they will expect to follow suit.

A rule change takes time to filter through. Those who say that the time delay will be to make a new safety video have no idea how compliance works. Any airline has to demonstrate compliance with a rule and documentation surrounding this must be promulgated.

Cheers, Matt.

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old3eyes

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#926218 2-Nov-2013 12:09

"Air authority may follow US change on use of tablets"

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=11150310

Regards,

Old3eyes

DaveDog

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#926264 2-Nov-2013 14:17

My experience with the CAA is that they don't approve of much - and certainly don't approve of anything quickly...

networkn:
Dratsab: I think networkn is aware of this and wasn't trying to suggest airlines could set policies which override the CAA but rather that they set policies (slowly) in accordance with provisions of the CAA regulatory framework. In a case like this the CAA will not come out and say airlines *must* allow passengers to use their electronic devices, they will say airlines *can* allow it then leave it to each individual carriers discretion.

Exactly. The CAA will likely approve this fairly quickly, I expect AirNZ to take their sweet time approving it after that.

Geektastic

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#926275 2-Nov-2013 15:14

old3eyes: "Air authority may follow US change on use of tablets"

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=11150310

"We will be maintaining the current rules and regulations that prohibit the use of some devices until we can be absolutely certain that use during takeoff and landing is safe in this country," it said."

Oh sure. Because NZ air and the planes that fly in it are unique and very different from the ones in the USA.....

I'm sure the FAA did not bother to find out if it was safe - there's no way they would value American lives as much as the CAA values NZ lives.....

And people wonder why productivity here is lower than it should be.

freitasm

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#926484 3-Nov-2013 10:13

blakamin

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#926624 3-Nov-2013 17:28

LEGROOM!

jeffnz

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#926637 3-Nov-2013 17:39

Geektastic:
old3eyes: "Air authority may follow US change on use of tablets"

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=11150310

"We will be maintaining the current rules and regulations that prohibit the use of some devices until we can be absolutely certain that use during takeoff and landing is safe in this country," it said."

Oh sure. Because NZ air and the planes that fly in it are unique and very different from the ones in the USA.....

I'm sure the FAA did not bother to find out if it was safe - there's no way they would value American lives as much as the CAA values NZ lives.....

And people wonder why productivity here is lower than it should be.

Have you got anything positive to say about NZ business's or anything positive full stop.

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