Ok, who here is guilty of turning on their phone the moment your plane lands – even when the flight attendants or cabin crew tell you not to?

Thought so.

British Airways seems to recognised this, and has agreed a safety case with the Civil Aviation Authority that will allow passenger to switch on phones and other electronic devices after landing after leaving the runway.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has said it is satisfied there are no safety implications.

So lets sum up the restrictions of when and where you can use your devices

• Pre-takeoff (whilst the doors on the aircraft are open)
• During flight above 10,000ft (Phones in flight mode)
• On the ground after exiting the runway

The points where you can’t use your electronics include:

• Pre-Takeoff and taxi
• During flight below 10,000ft on accent or decent

Ian Pringle – BA Flight Training Manager says:

“Customers will no longer have the frustration of having to wait until their plane has arrived at the terminal building before being able to use their mobile phones and other handheld electronic devices

Now they’ll have that extra time to phone ahead for that important business meeting, check their emails, or make sure someone is there to meet them at the airport.”

This applies to all landings that BA operate – both in the UK and elsewhere.

Meanwhile over in the USA, the Federal Aviation Administration is considering expanding the use of personal electronic devices in flight, and have released a fact sheet of their plans at http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=14774

In particular, the Aviation Rulemaking Committee is looking at ways of testing if devices can be used during any phase of flight, but to ensure that safety is not compromised during critical phases of flight – take off and landing.

The safety case is an interesting one – I’d rather err on the side of safety rather than everyone switch on their phones and not pay attention if something bad happens.

But I suppose most of us will reach for our handsets the moment the plane pulls off the runway… no matter what the flight attendant says…