For many people, myself included, airplane time is quiet time. Time for a nap, time to listen to some music, time to tell whoever’s on the other end of your phone that you have to let them go because you’re getting on the plane. So it comes as a great relief that the FAA has decided against lifting its ban on in-flight cell phone use "for the ‘foreseeable future.’"

Way back when this debate first started I thought that it might have been a good idea to let people use their phones on the airplane. But think about it. The airplane is becoming one of the last places of refuge for people who feel like their phone has become nothing more than a necessary evil, an invisible leash made up of between 0 and 4 bars. If phone use was okayed on planes, the only "me time" we’d have left would be in tunnels and the middle of the ocean.

Aside from the above ramblings, there still is an inherent security risk in allowing cell phone use on planes. Apparently "between January 2000 and August 2005 up to 20 incidents of aircraft malfunction were linked to the use of mobile phones." Also, it’s noted in the following article that bombs can be set off via mobile phone, much like the Madrid bombings were back in 2004. Valid point, but I don’t think that current rules against cell phone use would prevent someone from turning on a phone mid-flight and using it to send commands to a device somewhere else on the plane.

US says no to in-flight mobile use [Telegraph.co.uk]