Airborne iThing Insanity

Folks at the Chadwick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University in Chicago have determined -- gasp -- that the Federal Aviation Administration’s ban on the use of mobile gadgets during takeoff and landing means the loss of more than 100 million hours of productivity.

Their report, “Tablets in Flight,” makes it seems that if this ban continues, then the economy will come close to collapse.

Hmmm … I wonder if the data backing this study includes all the elementary school children watching cartoons on their iThing.

And, did they bother to walk down an airplane aisle and tally up the number of business folks running everyone’s favorite power apps -- Solitaire and Angry Birds.

I think we can all get by without a half hour of gadget use at the start and end of flights without causing the next Great Depression, and avoid potential interference with aircraft electronics.