Posted 12/11/2004 02:26:00 PM by Douglas

I've always thought that the airlines have ulterior motives for making you turn off your cell phone on the plane. You are subjected to more radiation on a cross-country flight than you receive from a dental x-ray, so how is my little cell phone going to mess with the plane's avionics? Short answer? It's not: [Via Brian, sort of]

Cell phone use has been banned due to concerns about how it could affect an aircraft's navigation. And cell phones sometimes have trouble working when the plane is at cruising altitude because phone towers aren't built to project their signals that high.

The FCC rules have less to do with the effects on a plane's navigation than concerns that cell phones on planes could wreak havoc with cell phone systems on the ground.

The libertarian in me just loves this one. The FCC and the FAA colluding together to keep me from using my phone. How perfect, and it definitely sounds like there's some greater force that's keeping this rule in place.

But what about the annoyance factor?

"Can you imagine being in the middle seat between two business people making phone calls for 3 hours?" said Les Glass in an e-mail to CNN/Money. "What are the airlines and the FCC thinking?"

One reader suggested that to allow cell phones increased the risk of violence on board planes due to confrontations between passengers. Others suggested that cell phones only be allowed in a segregated area of the cabin.

Yeah, but think of the advantages. Those annoying people will have someone else to talk to, and they won't feel obligated to talk to me. I personally don't feel people involved in a cell phone conversation are more annoying that a conversation between two people.

And increased violence? Gimme a break. A person involved in annoying cell phone conversation isn't going to do any more to incite violence than those little bottles of Jack Daniels or the safety lecture when they describe how to fasten a belt buckle.