~e; new caution about wireless devices and airplanes

[human being <human@electronetwork.org>]

disclaimer: i recently heard two things, one of which i am certain of,
regarding details, and the other whose details i am uncertain about...

the first regards someone on the media (radio) talking about
why airplanes are so guarded about cellphones on airplanes.
apparently, a person said, that the danger does not have to
do with airplane avionic systems, such as flight controls,
but instead is that (by testing or by an actual event) the
mobile phone has the ability to knock out all the cellphone
towers (and telephone system, possibly) in the landscape well
below the airplane, (30,000 feet) and possibly this happened
already (in cleveland or somewhere, USA) years back.

the second issue brought up by the same person (it may have
been a finance show on the airline industry on public radio)
which said, _possibly (as the memory is fuzzy) that a PDA-
device had been retrofitted in some type of experiment which
_did or _could knock-out critical flight or other systems
in an airplane, which may be today's new cause for concern
with all things computerized. in that, as has been said in
other areas, few would know what authenticates the guts of
a PDA or cellphone, if it could turn on and work correctly,
to prove it has or has not been modified. and, as such, it
could be modified, without notice, into a lethal weapon for
critical systems, using electromagnetic energy & information.

this message is to introduce this new topic as it may become
a topic of greater concern, if the stories are indeed accurate.

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