Getting put on No-Fly List for being rude & crude

[vaskidmark]

http://www.gadling.com/2010/10/27/passenger-put-on-no-fly-list-for-using-ipad/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl6%7Csec3_lnk1%7C180460

Think only suspected terrorists and hardened criminals end up on the government's infamous No Fly List? Well you best mind your manners on your next flight - in these days of heightened airline security, all it takes is to end up in hot water is some seriously obnoxious passenger behavior and an iPad. According to a recent story on Jalopnik, an air traveler en route from Chicago to New York's LaGuardia landed himself in trouble for refusing to turn off his beloved Apple device (and repeatedly pissing off the flight crew).

I can see him getting arrested for interfering with a flight crew, although there is still some serious question if the electronics really do interfere with the avionics.  It's a stupid ruke, but it's been a rule for like evah.

But being put on the No-Fly list?

I thought that was supposed to be to keep folks who posed an actual threat to the others flying.

stay safe.

[MechAg94]

I think Mythbusters tried to get a cell phone and other stuff to interfere with airplane electronics and were unable to find any effect at all. 

I've always wondered why it was such an issue.  Do airplanes use a lot of unshielded wiring?

[Brad Johnson]

I suppose the moral of the story is, "If you insist on being an ass be prepared for people to take note. Especially people with the power to really screw you over."

Brad

[TechMan]

I suppose the moral of the story is, "If you insist on being an ass be prepared for people to take note. Especially people with the power to really screw you over."

Brad

+1 on that.  You agree to the rules with the purchase of the ticket. I guess technology really runs that guy's life. 

[Viking]

+1 on that.  You agree to the rules with the purchase of the ticket. I guess technology really runs that guy's life. 

Yep. Sad, isn't it?

[roo_ster]

http://www.gadling.com/2010/10/27/passenger-put-on-no-fly-list-for-using-ipad/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl6%7Csec3_lnk1%7C180460

I can see him getting arrested for interfering with a flight crew, although there is still some serious question if the electronics really do interfere with the avionics.  It's a stupid ruke, but it's been a rule for like evah.

But being put on the No-Fly list?

I thought that was supposed to be to keep folks who posed an actual threat to the others flying.

stay safe.

No, they don't interfere with aviations electronics & such.

The No-Fly list is the TSA's version of the Taser.  Like the Taser, it was supposed to be used as a means of defense, but it has become an electronic bureaucratic whip to force compliance.

[Hawkmoon]

They only make you turn that stuff off for take-off and landing, so maybe they could have a special list for people who are allowed to fly at altitude but aren't allowed on the plane while it's taking off or landing.

[BrokenPaw]

I've always wondered why it was such an issue.  Do airplanes use a lot of unshielded wiring?

For most electronics, it's so that the airline appears to be Doing Something to ensure your safety; if it were otherwise, then all electronic devices, wristwatches included, would have to be shut off.  There's nothing intrinsically more dangerous about an iPod with the wireless networking shut off.

WRT cell phones, it's not an FAA thing, it's an FCC thing; a phone in the sky has LOS on a lot of cell towers, and that's bad for the cell-switching algorithms..

[Silver Bullet]

I think Mythbusters tried to get a cell phone and other stuff to interfere with airplane electronics and were unable to find any effect at all. 

I've always wondered why it was such an issue.  Do airplanes use a lot of unshielded wiring?

I think part of the problem is that airplanes have unshielded antennas.  You can't shield them without defeating their purposes.  I think it then comes back to what frequencies do the consumer electronics operate.

[TechMan]

They only make you turn that stuff off for take-off and landing, so maybe they could have a special list for people who are allowed to fly at altitude but aren't allowed on the plane while it's taking off or landing.

            

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i've been on planes with guys like that  they are worse than crying children   i would cheerfully deplane them at altitude

[Tallpine]

I wonder if you can get on the "No-Pancake List" for not tipping at Village Inn ... 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

no tip/  don't go back  or at least don't eat or drink anything if you go back.  not even or especially coffee     or so i've heard

[Tallpine]

no tip/  don't go back  or at least don't eat or drink anything if you go back.  not even or especially coffee     or so i've heard

You mean they don't get the feds involved     

[HankB]

I wonder if you can get on the "No-Pancake List" for not tipping at Village Inn ... 

I ate at a Village Inn - once. Service was fine, prices and portions were fine, but taste of the food? None. You could only tell what you were eating by appearance and texture - everything on the plate tasted the same. If "flavorless" can be considered a taste . . .

BTW, the new Village Inn we got locally didn't last long . . . now the building is some sort of Japanese restaurant/sushi parlor.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I think part of the problem is that airplanes have unshielded antennas.  You can't shield them without defeating their purposes.  I think it then comes back to what frequencies do the consumer electronics operate.

This.  There are all sorts of weird interactions you can get with RF gear and nearby electronics.  The systems on an airliner are built and tested to be immune to it, and properly functioning consumer gear isn't supposed to emit anything truly offensive, but those assumptions may not always hold. 

Annoying as it is, I can understand the reason for the rules.  Given the potential consequences of any failure, caution is warranted.

And reading the article, it sounds like the iPad wasn't really the source of his entry into the no-fly-list.  Whatever he was doing, it went way beyond mere surliness.  I've been on plenty of flights with surly and rude passengers, but I've never seen anyone be so disruptive that the captain had to intervene.

[RoadKingLarry]

So you have to rude and crude while actually on an aircraft to get no-flyed.
OK then, I'm probably till good.

[Perd Hapley]

I was expecting this thread to be another installment in The Legend of JamisJockey.

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

FWIW the guy was an ass. But you have to expect that due to the idiocy of what you must go through to fly today. I just went through it yesterday. And will again in 2 weeks. The hoops you must jump through and the *expletive deleted*it attitude of the TSA will make anyone bitchy. The TSA are just plain penis heads. People who probably couldn't get a job elsewhere, diversity hires and such. They treat you as cattle.

And it will get worse. Seems the TSA doesn't like people who opt out, mind you they (TSA) give you a choice, chose wrong and get molested.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39889732/?gt1=43001

[erictank]

FWIW the guy was an ass. But you have to expect that due to the idiocy of what you must go through to fly today. I just went through it yesterday. And will again in 2 weeks. The hoops you must jump through and the *expletive deleted* attitude of the TSA will make anyone bitchy. The TSA are just plain penis heads. People who probably couldn't get a job elsewhere, diversity hires and such. They treat you as cattle.

And it will get worse. Seems the TSA doesn't like people who opt out, mind you they (TSA) give you a choice, chose wrong and get molested.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39889732/?gt1=43001

You choose wrong by going to the airport, it seems - if they have the Nude-O-Scopes, and you're selected for them, you either get aggressively groped/frisked by a cop wannabe with delusions of legitimacy and power when you opt-out, or you don't opt-out, in which case you get virtually-strip-searched *AND* groped/frisked by a cop wannabe with delusions of legitimacy and power, according to numerous flyers at Flyertalk's Travel Safety And Security board.

And rumor has it things will be getting worse over the weekend - some of the resident screeners on that board have been hinting rather gloatingly about "big changes at the end of the month" which many/most there won't like.

[Nitrogen]

Considering how stupid so many Americans are, the rules have to be easy and blanketly appliable to understand.

Instead of "No radiofrequency equipment that operates on 1.57542GHz, 118.0 and 135.975 MHz, 108.1 - 117.95 MHz, etc etc.  (And not even getting into harmonics, either), it's much easier to just say, "Hey, moron, turn that crap off."

[Hawkmoon]

Instead of "No radiofrequency equipment that operates on 1.57542GHz, 118.0 and 135.975 MHz, 108.1 - 117.95 MHz, etc etc.  (And not even getting into harmonics, either), it's much easier to just say, "Hey, moron, turn that crap off."

"Who you callin' a radio freak, ya moron? This ain't even a radio. Sheesh!"

[cosine]

My favorite electromagnetics fields professor likes to say very emphatically about cell phones (especially to freshmen, some who haven't realized this yet): "Is not phone, IS RADIO!"

[RevDisk]

My favorite electromagnetics fields professor likes to say very emphatically about cell phones (especially to freshmen, some who haven't realized this yet): "Is not phone, IS RADIO!"

I have absolutely no idea how folks do not understand that.  If it's communicating without wires and you can hold it, it's probably just a radio with a fancy interface.

[GadsdenGraphics]

They only make you turn that stuff off for take-off and landing, so maybe they could have a special list for people who are allowed to fly at altitude but aren't allowed on the plane while it's taking off or landing.

I agree - but this guy was put on the list mid-air.  That would suck.