Kev writes:

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.

I would be wary of using anything that is designed to transmit radio
waves near avionics unless it were certified for such use, so cellular
telephones do make me uneasy.

The irrational prohibitions are those against devices that are not
transmitters, such as laptops, GPS receivers, and the like. But most
air crews haven't a clue in this domain so they ride on superstition;
some airlines do the same.

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