Speculation laptop use caused Qantas flight plunge
Found on Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday, 11 October 2008
Air safety investigators say it is too early to blame passenger laptop computers for causing a Qantas jet to abruptly nose dive on a flight from Singapore to Perth.
The mid-air incident resulted in injuries to 74 people, with 51 of them treated by three hospitals in Perth for fractures, lacerations and suspected spinal injuries.
Laptops could have interfered with the plane's on-board computer system, it has been reported.
Laptops which change the altitude, wireless mice which change the course, cell-phones which cause everything from A-Z. Who is making up those excuses? And even if this is really true, why didn't someone think of the basic concept of shielding? Furthermore, why would the internal system of a plane react to common wireless signals? I think a simple socket in the cockpit to plug in your maintenance laptop is not fancy enough today.