America’s Federal Aviation Administration has officially cancelled restrictions on the use of some electronic devices during flight as well as during takeoff and landing, prompting several American airliners to get their plans in for approval to implement the new standards.

E-readers, tablets and cellular phones could all be left on during all stages of flight, pending FAA approval for each individual airliner, allowing passengers to (mostly) make use of their devices throughout. There are some limitations on this however. The FAA states in a newly-published FAQ that “Once your airline has shown the FAA its airplanes can safely handle radio interference from portable electronics, they can let you use your devices in airplane mode only most of the time. At certain times — for example, a landing in reduced visibility — the Captain may tell passengers to turn off their devices to make absolutely sure they don’t interfere with onboard communications and navigation equipment.”

So you won’t be making calls at 30,000 feet using a personal device and there may be occasions where you might have to power down your electronics of choice. It’s also not going to be possible to actually use some of the devices during takeoff and landing, they will need to be stowed during these procedures but at least you’re not going to be power-cycling them except in specific circumstances.

Now hopefully the relaxing of restrictions on electronic devices during flight will show up a little closer to home.

Source: The Verge