So people like you are paying full attention to everything your being told by the cabin crew/ pilots.
Its also in the event of an emergency landing or crash your video camera cd player laptop doesnt become a missile.

Because upto 10,000 is the critical stage of flight. It has to do with passengers attention being focused in the event of an emergency. It has nothing to do with instruments or em waves. It has to do with an announcement being made that could save your life and you have Eminem blasting into your ears unable to hear the information.

And its their fault if they die in an accident. It is a federal regulation to pay attention to all instructions. I have flown tons of times i know most aircraft like the back of my hand and the instructions off by heart. But i listen every time. trust me, a few minutes is worth your life

If your about to hit the ground at 400mph. That gives you a good position to kiss your A*s goodbye at least

So that means no pictures on take off or landing? Thats crazy! ???

OK one last time. In todays modern world it isnt about the batteries. The signal they emit isn't enough to cause a problem if they were sat on top of the instrument panels. This has been tested to death. It has to do with the safety of passengers. your camera would become a Missile if the plane suddenly had to abort the takeoff. I know if i got smacked on the back of the head by a video camera i wouldn't be too pleased. Same thing goes for you not being able to hear any emergency information if you have your music blasting through your ears.
People still do it all those pictures you see proove that. No planes have crashed because of it. Do so all you want but remember if your plane has an incident its upto you to secure it quickly. And if your told to turn it off by a flight attendant do so immediatly.

I've lost touch with all this now but I would like to see the official ruling, especially on the use of cell phones in aircraft cabins. As I understand it these are still banned but will soon be allowed but only certain types.

Despite what anyone says about them not affecting equipment I remember attending a lecture on the subject some years ago when UHF computerised radio transmitters were the latest thing for R/C aircraft modellers. From what I was told the mobile phones then in use could scramble the memory in the transmitter which was obviously potentially dangerous if the model was in the air. For this reason, mobile phones were banned from our model club flying field. I also remember the same ban at a Farnborough Air Show at the time for similar reasons. I think the current mobile phones use a different system so this might no longer be the case. I've seen plenty of mobiles in use on airfields at the many displays I've attended in the last couple of years.

I doubt that ordinary electronic equipment like digital camcorders or cameras would affect anything except for being a possible missile as Craig points out. I've used my digital camera during take-off & landing & don't recall any warnings or being told not to. I think it's only reasonable to comply with the rules. These are usually there for a good reason & ignoring them could endanger you or your fellow passengers.