On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 19:10:12 -0500, Gene Kearns
vaguely proposed a theory
.......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Let's just say that if you are talking on the radio, chances are you
are being directed where to go and at what altitude... flight
plan.... sort of like.. the phone rings and somebody changes all of
your plans....

But the guy is not talking chatter. He is not holding onto the phone
while trying to juggle the multi-turn wheel around a rightangle bend
at lights. And in 90% of cases, vehicles are actually in far more
dangerous proximity than planes anyway. A car driver probably makes
more decisions than a pilot in most journeys. Not as complex perhaps,
but far more constant, and with far less control and planning.

The person changing all of your plans is not your wife wanting ghe
shopping. It's somebody who) ost of the time) knows where you are and
is helping you to be where you should be.

Ignoring them is also not as dangerous as ingnoring the shopping
instructions.

If you say the radio chatter of a pilot is a distraction to him, so
are roads, white lines, traffic lights, one way signs etc to any
driver.

It is arguable that the people who use the phone and have a prang are
going to find something else anyway. But the phone seems to be a
better grabber than anything else of people's attentions.

In West Oz they are talking about banning _any_ phone talk, hendheld
or not. Phone conversations are being said by some to be more
distracting than talking to the passenger.


otherwise, you might be transmitting in the blind, announcing your
position and *hoping* that somebody is listening...