Proposed FAA rule tells pilots not to play with their smartphones and tablets

The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing to prohibit pilots from using personal wireless devices in the cockpit, although iPads or laptops that pilots use for work would still be allowed.

Since 1981, the FAA prohibits any activity while taxiing, taking off or landing that could distract pilots from their duties, under what is called a “sterile cockpit” policy when planes are below 10,000 feet in the air. The new proposal would extend the prohibition against personal electronics to the entire flight.