Old rule keeps ashtrays in jet bathrooms

Question: Why do airlines still have ashtrays in the bathroom doors even though smoking is prohibited? — Steve Kemp, Ames, Iowa Answer: It is a certification requirement by the regulatory agencies (e.g. the Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency). This is an old requirement that came from the 1960s to ensure that a person had a place to extinguish a cigarette other than throwing it in the lavatory trash bin where it could cause a paper fire. Fires caused by cigarettes occurred in the 1960s, which resulted in the certification requirement.

The requirement has never been changed because there are still airlines around the world that allow smoking, and airplanes are often sold between airlines.

Q: Ever since I remember, there have been the announcements about using electronic devices only above 10,000 feet as long as they are not transmitting devices. I always wondered why that included portable TVs and radios since they are receivers and not transmitters.

— Axel, Maryland

A: Older portable radios and TVs have transmitters within them. Long before the current debate on portable electronic devices erupted, we were shown the effect of a portable TV on a navigation radio during a training session. The effect was dramatic, causing the needles of the navigation radio to display “crazy” indications. With today’s new technology, this problem may have decreased, but the origin of the requirement to keep portable radios and TVs off was founded in a true risk.

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John Cox is a retired airline captain with US Airways and runs his own aviation safety consulting company.