Can you use electronic cigarettes on aircraft?

Answer 1

Yes, you can take just about anything on a plane that is electronic!

Hope this helped :)

However note:

You're not allowed to turn them on while in flight.

Hope this also helped as well, too. :)

Answer 2

Are you asking whether it is against the rules? That much should be obvious: there is always an announcement before taking off and before landing about turning off electronics. The rules have become a little more lax as far as cell phones and other communications devices as to when these can be used. For example, I use my cell phone all the time on a plane prior to pulling away from the gate and after the plane stops at the arriving gate. In fact, I believe that is what the current rule is: communications devices must be turned off or put in "Airplane Mode" when on a plane that is not at the gate/terminal.

I'm guessing what you are more interested in knowing is whether there is any real harm in breaking the rules (as far as electronics on planes). The long answer is a bit complicated, but the short answer is, simply put, no. There have been many tests done over the years as communications electronics have changed. As far as I know, no planes have crashed as a direct result of someone talking on their cell phone. In fact, it is actually impossible -- based on FCC (Federal Communications Commission) rules and regulations -- for any consumer electronics to interfere with aviation communications or other electronics. Besides FCC rules, there is another important reason: frequency spectrum apportionment. Something else the FCC regulates is the "frequency band" that any communications electronics uses for emitting EM (ElectroMagnetic) radiation. Something important to understand about how communications electronics work: a fundamental concept called "modulation". Modulation is the process of "mixing" a base frequency (called the "Carrier" wave) with some other type of signal. That "other" signal is what contains the information of interest (data, audio, other "encoded" information). For the purposes of this discussion, what we are interested in is the Carrier wave frequency. You can actually go on the FCC's website and look up some of these frequencies, and you'll find that the way the FCC regulates the frequencies used by communications electronics is by "apportioning" or setting-aside "bands" (frequency ranges). If you look up, say, the band apportioned for cell phones (somewhere around 900MHz [Megahertz, a unit of frequency] and somewhere around 2.4GHz [Gigahertz] as well as a few other frequency ranges [bands]), and compare that to bands set aside for aviation communication, emergency communications like emergency beacons, SOS calls, etc., you will find that, not only do they definitely not overlap, they are nowhere near each other. There is a really good reason for that: they don't want any chance that one type of device (like a cell phone) can transmit in the same band as another (like an airplane), thereby preventing any possibility that one could be mistaken by the receiver as another. And it kind of makes sense right? What electronics manufacturer would want to be the one that gets blamed for their equipment causing planes to crash?

Actually that raises another good point. Regardless of communications equipement, all pilots have LOTS of time and experience flying planes without relying on their high-tech equipment. They have to be prepared for the unlikely situation that their communications equipment and navigational aids fail to work correctly. In fact, when landing a plane, many pilots rely solely on visual aids outside the plane, like runway lights and angle-of-approach/descent indicators.

The bottom line is that there is simply no way that you can go buy something at Best Buy or Walmart that you could bring on a plane that could cause it to crash. If cell phones and mp3 players had even the slightest chance of causing a problem, you simply wouldn't be allowed to bring them on the plane. That's more common sense than anything. There are lots of hypotheses (guesses) as to why these rules are in place. One of my favorite guesses is this: how much would a plane ride suck if you had to listen to other people yammer away on their cell phones. My theory is that, as the FAA and TSA (Transportation Safety Administration) knows, people tend to be on edge enough as it is sailing through the air at 600 miles an hour, 30,000 feet in the air. What the FAA and TSA want is for people to be calm and quiet. Actually, another interesting point is that your cell phone just wouldn't work anyway at 30,000 feet moving at 600 mph; I've tried it :) The reason is that you are simply too far away and moving too fast for the phone to lock on to any cell tower. I'm just waiting for people to discover that they can use Google phone on planes with WiFi. They'll probably make a rule against that too.

---Previous Answer---

Sometimes yes.

Set your equipment to flight mode (offline, or disconnected from network) and turn it off before entering the tarmac.

I recommend that you ask a steward(ess) if you are allowed to use the equipment, but you usually are not allowed to use it when the fasten seat belt light is on.

Once when I was on a flight, they let us use wireless before the last cabin door is closed.

Answer 3

Of course. That's exactly what half of a cell-phone is.

Just like a cell-phone, you can carry the radio on with you.

But on most airlines, you can't turn it on and listen to it during the flight.

Answer 4

Not in the United States, unless it is a private plane. TSA rules prohibit their use.

Electronic cigarettes produce no signal noise that would interfere with the electronics of the airplane.