Common Terms, Icons Urged for Aircraft Use of Wireless Devices

The recommended practice doesn’t envision returning to the days when unfettered use of portable CD players and certain other PEDs was permitted aboard an aircraft even during takeoffs and landings. Rather, the draft says, it’s foreseeable that the use of some wireless technologies might be permitted on board some commercial aircraft in the future, so a simple and obvious method should be provided to enable or disable a specific type of transmitter. For example, the draft says, when all transmitters in a wireless PED are disabled, they shall go into and an “off” state and remain there until the user physically re-enables them; system boot-up, sleep state and programmable timed functions such as alarms or automatic updates won’t override this, the draft says.

As for peripherals or add-ons such as a wireless mouse or wireless headphone, if the “host” PED is to be used where wireless transmissions are restriction or barred, the simple recommendation is that all such add-ons be switched off, disabled by the host PED or removed from the host PED, the draft says. It advises makers of such add-ons to consider designing such products with the ability to respond to a “transmitters disabled” control on the host PED, or providing the host PED or user a “transmitters disabled” control.

The recommended practice supports consistent use of the term “transmitters disabled” as opposed to terms like “airplane mode” because PEDs using such alternatives “could perform in different ways,” the draft says. Moreover, it says, “some wireless technologies might be permitted for use on board some commercial aircraft in the future” that would thwart the use of terms like “airplane mode.” It urges frequent reference be made to the “transmitters disabled” terminology in in-flight magazines, airline websites, airport signs and wherever rules on PED use customarily are displayed.

Crucial to widespread use of the recommendation practice is the adoption of screen icons indicating when any or all of a PED’s transmitters are enabled or disabled. The draft says it’s assumed those icons can be accommodated on a PED’s external case or display screen. The size and brightness of the icons “should be sufficient to allow positive identification by an individual with normal vision from a distance of 6 ft., the draft says. It estimates that’s the distance from the eye level of a cabin crew member standing in the aisle of a 747 to a position in the middle of the lap of a passenger seated at the window. The analysis, drawn from Boeing, assumes 3 seat widths of 17.2” each, with a PED held 20” above the floor, viewed by a crew member standing 6 ft. tall.

In one of 9 user scenarios cited in the draft, adoption of the recommended practice would ease the use of a game player on a mobile phone during the flight phase after takeoff when it’s announced that the use of approved PEDs is permitted. The announcement would remind passengers that the transmitters on any wireless devices must be disabled. In this scenario, a passenger in a window seat removes his mobile phone from a carry-on bag, switches on the phone, selects the “transmitter disabled” mode, and plays a game. A short time later, a flight attendant passing by asks the passenger for confirmation that the phone’s transmitter has been switched off. The passenger pauses the game to return to the phone’s main screen, where he points out the “transmitters disabled” icon on the display. “The symbol is easily visible and clearly identifiable to the flight attendant,” the draft says.