Mxsmanic wrote:
The FAA allows airlines and pilots (of GA aircraft) to ban the use of
electronic devices that may interfere with the safety of the flight,
but it doesn't specifically forbid or allow individual items, with a
handful of exceptions. It's up to the operator or pilot to decide. [..]

I was reading through ASRS pages a few years ago, and there was a
special report listing cellphone related entries. You can probably
Google it up. Pilots would note navigation equipment going wacky when
a passenger used their phone.

There was one particular report that stuck in my mind. It was a
flight trying to use the autoland feature in almost zero visibility
conditions. They reported that each time they got close to the ground
the autopilot would go wacky and try to drop them in. They aborted
landing twice and finally the copilot went back to the first-class
section (I think 747 upper deck) and noticed that a lady was trying to
call her friends each time to say they were landing! He made her turn
the phone off and they landed okay on the third try.

Of course, it could be coincidence. But from the reports, a lot of
pilots just don't like taking the chance when things are a little
tight.

Kev