FAA Bans Pilots Texting in Flight

The FAA has issued final regulations banning commercial airline pilots from using Personal Electronic Devices (PEDs) while in the cockpit operating aircraft. The rule will take effect in 60 days and provides mandates for prohibitions that the FAA and lawmakers have been looking to finalize in recent years. Within the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, lawmakers included a provision for the agency to develop a rule that prohibits airline flight crews from using personal wireless communications devices for personal reasons during all phases of flight. "This rule will ensure that certain non-essential activities do not contribute to the challenge of task management on the flight deck and do not contribute to a loss of situational awareness due to attention to non-essential activities, as highlighted by these incidents," the agency said in its issuance of the new rule.