And this makes it risky for airlines to allow because how can the operator determine that every different electronic device will not cause interference?
I've flown small planes where my phone absolutely did cause a burst of noticeable radio interference every few seconds with LTE enabled, but those avionics likely have much less shielding than the commercial planes. Simple fix is to just turn on airplane mode or disable LTE.
If there was a risk to the aircraft, do you think that safety point would be left to the passenger to turn off the device? Of course not so if there was any risk at all of them being used they would not have been allowed on the aircraft.
The issue is that FAA rule requires the operator to determine that any allowed electronic device does not cause interference. It clearly places the burden of proof on the airline operator, that's a pretty high bar by some interpretations.
Let's set aside for a moment FAA, FCC, IATA, etc.
The airline has a several million dollars/euro worth aircraft to lose in case of a crash.
The insurance has many more millions to pay.
If I were them and if I suspected that having phones or smartphones switched on and/or used during flight might in 0.00001% of cases cause a crash, my policy would be to frisk all passengers and take all their electronic devices in custody before boarding.
Since this is not done, they (airline and insurance) must be pretty sure that the devices (and their use) are not dangerous for flight safety.
While the bomb might be a chance greater than 0.00001%, the scissors should be far less dangerous.
The planes are already filled to the max with humans like cans of sardines.
And it seems like most of these humans are perfectly OK with giving up their right to yap on the phone if that means their neighbor will lose it too.
"WE NOW ENCOURAGE INFLIGHT PHONE CONVERSATIONS!" is not a message the airlines would want to send.
It's a tricky balance. Everyone knows the rule is not enforced, but your seat neighbor can tell on you (especially if you're annoying), so people are incentivized to behave. Not so much on trains, btw.
(Also, FWIW the FAA rule leaves it to airlines to decide when and whether to apply it).
* https://accidentstats.airbus.com/statistics/accident-by-flig...
Planes are certified so that a fully loaded plane can be evacuated in less that 90 seconds:
* https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Emergency_Evacuation_on_...
During those phases, if an emergency occurs, people should not have their heads in a screen. The configuration of all seats and trays should be that if an incident occurs everyone is prepped to evacuate ASAP. The fewer distractions there are the better IMHO.
It's not about safety.
The FAA didn't make this rule. The FCC did, because the cell networks weren't designed for thousands of airborne handsets moving at 500 knots. "Cell phone systems depend on frequency reuse, which allows for a dramatic increase in the number of customers that can be served within a geographic area on a limited amount of radio spectrum, and operating a phone at an altitude may violate the fundamental assumptions that allow channel reuse to work."