FCC Pushes In-Flight Electronics Use

Planes could get a lot noisier soon. Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration asking that the agency “enable greater use of tablets, e-readers, and other portable devices.” The FAA has recently agreed to review its electronics policies during all portions of the flight, and pilots are now allowed to use iPads instead of paper flight manuals. In the letter to Michael Huerta, acting administrator of the FAA, Genachowski writes, “This review comes at a time of tremendous innovation, as mobile devices are increasingly interwoven in our daily lives.”