Letters to the Editor
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Yes, cell phones and laptops are dangerous to flight.
I am an Electrical Engineer and have a subscription to Spectrum, the journal of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). This journal published a research paper in March 2006 entitled "Unsafe At Any Airspeed" on this very topic, and they actually measured the interferance to the plane's control systems caused by cell phones and laptops during actual flights. I will provide a link to the article, along with some selected quotes:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/mar06/3069
"What we found was disturbing....our research has found that these items can interrupt the normal operation of key cockpit instruments, especially Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, which are increasingly vital to safe landings. Two different studies by NASA further support the idea that passengers' electronic devices dangerously produce interference in a way that reduces the safety margins for critical avionics systems."
"More important, the data support a conclusion that continued use of portable RF-emitting devices such as cellphones will, in all likelihood, someday cause an accident by interfering with critical cockpit instruments such as GPS receivers. This much is certain: there exists a greater potential for problems than was previously believed."
"Our data and the NASA studies suggest to us that there is a clear and present danger: cellphones can render GPS instrument useless for landings. "