Try using your electronic device during an airplane takeoff these days and your seat mate or a flight attendant will read you the riot act, but apparently pilots need an official reminder from the Federal Aviation Administration.

In a bulletin for airplane operators, the FAA says that use of personal electronic devices can be a safety risk and a cockpit distraction.  

"Regulations regarding sterile flight decks prohibit crewmembers from performing any duties not relating to the safe operation of the aircraft during critical phases of flight. At other phases of flight, crewmembers must avoid becoming distracted by any task not related to the safe operation of the flight, whether it involves use of a PED or not," the bulletin states.

The bulletin references the October 2009 Northwestern Airlines flight that two pilots allowed to wander 150 miles off course while they were using their laptop computers. It also references Colgan Air Flight 3407, which crashed in February 2009. Distractions caused by personal electronic devices were not responsible for the crash, but the flight's first officer sent a text message while the airplane was taxiing for departure after leaving the gate, according to the National Transportation Safety Board final report (.pdf)

The FAA announcement came wrapped with public statements from Transportation Department Secretary Ray LaHood that airlines should "create a safety culture to control cockpit distractions."

How serious an incident the Northwestern flight was, however, is debated by some. "There was no catastrophe. There was no near catastrophe. The plane was temporarily off-course during high-altitude cruise flight, under [air traffic control] watch above non-mountainous terrain," said airplane pilot and Salon.com blogger Patrick Smith, at the time.

"Do airline pilots sometimes become distracted? Of course they do, just as any professional in any line of work occasionally becomes distracted, even in the middle of important duties," he added. "The crew made an embarrassing mistake, and will be punished accordingly, while the rest of us who fly for a living will draw important if obvious lessons."

For more:
- read the FAA's Information for Operators 10003 (.pdf)
- see Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's blog
- read "Ask a Pilot," the blog by airplane pilot Patrick Smith

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