[nfb-talk] Fw: Disruptions: Are a Kindle's Emissions a Hazard?.

[Ed Meskys]

Subject: Disruptions: Are a Kindle's Emissions a Hazard?.


BITS.
Disruptions: Are a Kindle's Emissions a Hazard?.
NY Times Monday, 2011_12_26
By NICK BILTON. Email: bilton at nytimes.com. The Federal Aviation 
Administration
has
its reasons for preventing passengers from reading from their Kindles and 
iPads
during
takeoff and landing. But they just don't add up.
Since I wrote a column last month asking why these rules exist, I've spoken 
with
the F.A.A., American Airlines, Boeing and several others trying to find 
answers.
Each has given me a radically different rationale that contradicts the 
others.
The
F.A.A. admits that its reasons have nothing to do with the undivided 
attention
of
passengers or the fear of Kindles flying out of passengers' hands in case 
there
is
turbulence. That leaves us with the danger of electrical emissions.
For answers, I headed down to EMT Labs, an independent testing facility in
Mountain
View, Calif., that screens electrical emissions of gadgets that need to pass
health,
safety and interference standards.
Before I share the results of the tests EMT ran, let me explain what this 
means.
Every electronic device throws off electrical emissions. This is the slight 
hum
of
energy that emanates from a device when in use. Labs like EMT test 
electronics
of
all sizes to ensure that they meet government standards and will not 
interfere
with
other electronics when in use.
Gadgets are tested by monitoring the number of volts per meter coming off a
device.
The F.A.A. requires that before a plane can be approved as safe, it must be 
able
to withstand up to 100 volts per meter of electrical interference.
When EMT Labs put an Amazon Kindle through a number of tests, the company
consistently
found that this e-reader emitted less than 30 microvolts per meter when in 
use.
That's
only 0.00003 of a volt.
The power coming off a Kindle is completely minuscule and can't do anything 
to
interfere
with a plane,' said Jay Gandhi, chief executive of EMT Labs, after going 
over
the
results of the test. It's so low that it just isn't sending out any real
interference.
But one Kindle isn't sending out a lot of electrical emissions. But surely a
plane's
cabin with dozens or even hundreds will? That's what both the F.A.A. and
American
Airlines asserted when I asked why pilots in the cockpit could use iPads, 
but
the
people back in coach could not. Yet that's not right either.
Electromagnetic energy doesn't add up like that. Five Kindles will not put 
off
five
times the energy that one Kindle would,' explained Kevin Bothmann, EMT Labs
testing
manager. If it added up like that, people wouldn't be able to go into 
offices,
where
there are dozens of computers, without wearing protective gear.
Bill Ruck, principal engineer at CSI Telecommunications, a firm that does 
radio
communications
engineering, added: 'Saying that 100 devices is 100 times worse is factually
incorrect.
Noise from these devices increases less and less as you add more.
The F.A.A. does allow some electronics during takeoff and landing. Portable
voice
recorders, hearing aids, heart pacemakers and electric shavers are permitted
during
all times of a flight.
So I took a Sony voice recorder that I bought at Best Buy and tested that 
too.
The
results? The voice recorder puts off almost exactly the same electrical
emissions
as the Kindle. In many instances of the test, the voice recorder actually
emitted
more.
In 2006, a report commissioned by the F.A.A. determined that people could 
not
use
electronics during takeoff and landing. I asked Dave Carson, a Boeing 
engineer
who
was co-chairman of the group that wrote the report, why we are allowed voice
recorders
and electric razors but not Kindles and iPads.
In an e-mail, Mr. Carson said that voice recorders and razors had been
determined
to 'not cause interference with the navigation or communication system of 
the
aircraft
on which it is to be used' though he wrongly thought that the F.A.A. banned
those
devices nonetheless. Mr. Ruck said: 'The only reason these rules exist from 
the
F.A.A.
is because of agency inertia and paranoia.
The F.A.A. and other groups seem to be running out of reasons we can't use
digital
e-readers on planes during takeoff and landing. Maybe their next response 
will
be:
'Because I said so!
This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in
print.