FCC talking about relaxing cell phone rules

"Reid & Julie Baldwin" wrote in message
...
The news lately has mentioned that the FCC is meeting to discuss relaxing
the ban on using cell phones in airplanes. Most of the news coverage
focuses
on the implications for airline passengers. They said that the FAA would
also
have to change rules before airline passengers could use cell phones.
The FCC is mainly concerned with interference with ground based use.
The FAA is mostly concerned about interference with aircraft electronics.
Does the FAA prohibit cell phone use in private aircraft, or is that just
an
FCC rule? If it becomes legal to use a cell phone from the air, I may have
to look into one of those headset adapters for cell phones.


IIRC the FARs do not prohibit the use of cell phones in flight for part 91
ops in VFR. When operating on an IFR flight plan I believe there are
restrictions on operation of equipment that can be construed as a ban on the
use of cellphones. The operative regulation in either case though is with
the FCC who I do believe prohibits airborne use of cell phones, though it is
utterly unenforceable.

As a very frequent airline flyer, this sounds like an awful idea to me.
First, it's bad enough having to listen to the guys yelling into their
phones before they shut the door. Second, those 2-5 hours I'm in the
aluminum tube are the last hours of my life when my
boss/clients/girlfriend/etc do not expect me to be reachable by phone,
email, or text message. I'd much rather keep it that way.

-cwk.