[Overpaid Slacker]

Rick -
No. I agree w/ Cramer on the potential EMF issue, but in practicality the DOT/FAA study I'd read a coupla years back (which I can't find right now, but I'll post when I can) said there had been no instances of cell phones screwing with avionics. OK, there had been instances of screwy things happening to avionics sometimes when cell phones were in use, but no causative factors.

It's an economics game -- both by the airlines and by the cell service providers. Airlines get to charge you to make a call on their phones, so surprise there, right? But, as importantly, the cell service providers get their billing straight. When passengers in small aircraft use cell phones (not illegal) especially very fast small aircraft, the cells cannot accurately track the "hand-offs" of the calls as the phone is covering many cells and moving quickly from cell to cell -- which screws up the billing/tracking ability of the service providers. Before some EE out there gores me for the rudimentary explanation, I'm relating the result of a few articles I'd read years ago, so take it as a crude expansion of Cramer's "line of sight" example.

JP