The Weekly Newspaper of Inglewood Daily News on a Weekly Basis - Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - January 19, 2017 Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................2 Classifieds............................4 Community Brief.................3 Film Review..........................4 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Legals............................2, 6-7 Pets........................................8 Police Reports.....................3 Sports....................................5 Seniors..................................4 Weekend Forecast Friday Rain/Wind 59˚/49˚ Saturday Mostly Sunny 60˚/52˚ Sunday Rain 56˚/52˚ Inglewood Baseball Fund Welcomes Hall of Famer Winfield Rockstar players, professional alums and Baseball Hall of Fame member Dave Winfield (fourth from the right, top row) celebrate the program’s 10th anniversary at Serra High School in Gardena. The event was organized by the Inglewood Baseball Fund. Photo by Edizen Stowell, Venice Paparazzi U.S. Skies Remain a Call-Free Zone - For Now By Rob McCarthy and intrude on privacy and opportunities to As if airline travel wasn’t stressful enough sleep,” passengers and organizations warned for cramped passengers, there’s talk about the federal transit agency. allowing phone service on domestic flights. Despite the almost unanimous opposition The Department of Transportation (DOT) by the flying public and pilots and attendants, is floating a trial balloon--which is what the Transportation Department has come back government agencies do to gauge public with a more nuanced proposal that reads like reaction to policy changes--about lifting the in-flight phone conversations are a foregone nation’s restriction on phone service on U.S. conclusion. commercial flights. The DOT envisions that Like before, the DOT is asking for public Wi-Fi phone service could be safe enough comment. Transportation officials say they’re to install on commercial U.S. jets, but also aiming to protect passengers with a new admits there could be passenger backlash if proposal to require domestic airlines to tell the perceived ban on air-talk is lifted. customers before they book a seat that phone Cell phone service is only banned on service is going to be available. The cost commercial flights because of concerns that of in-flight phone service is expensive, yet the signals will interfere with navigation regulators believe that Wi-Fi operators will and communications in the cockpit. The find ways to lower the costs as technology Transportation Department and the Federal is introduced. Communications Commission are rethinking Even the Federal Communications call-free skies, in effect since 1991. The ban Commission, which hasn’t wavered on the does not cover Wi-Fi and other technology restriction of nearly three decades ago, says for making voice calls. it will reconsider. When transportation officials raised the This more-nuanced rule would regulate voice possibility in 2014 of lifting the no-call calls on an aircraft as a “matter of consumer rule, they heard back from 1,700 passengers, protection, rather than … ensuring aviation consumer advocates, and the airline unions. In safety or preventing cellular interference with response to a question of whether domestic ground networks,” the DOT explained. It leaves flights should offer in-flight phone service, open the possibility the public and unions 96 percent of the emails and letters the again will reject the idea without specifying department received said it was a horrible if the department will be guided by public idea. Individuals cited their loss of privacy, opinion this time around. while aviation safety groups said the additional The department is asking again whether to noise would make flight crews’ jobs more forbid the airlines from allowing voice calls to difficult. One commenter said terrorists might be made at all with a mobile wireless device, find a way to exploit the technology. People even one that uses a different frequency than used “strong language” to describe their dread a cell phone. Public comment on the proposed about being confined on a domestic flight rule document, Use of Mobile Wireless with nowhere to escape a phone conversation Devices for Voice Calls on Aircraft, closes on in the next seat or row, the department said. February 13. Comments can be left at http:// International carriers do allow passengers to www.regulations.gov/document?D=DOTOST make and receive voice calls, but not within 2014-0002-2829. 250 miles of the U.S. It’s widely understood that Americans like the cabin quiet and free of loud talking. Allowing Wi-Fi technology aboard planes would “create air rage incidents by disgruntled passengers, place additional strains on flight attendances, The Federal Communication Commission, one of three federal agencies that oversees the airline industry, doesn’t prohibit voice calls over Wi-Fi--only certain commercial mobile bands. U.S. carriers have the capability to permit passengers to make and take calls in-flight via Wi-Fi, according to the DOT filing. It adds that international carriers report no problems among passengers because of loud talking on calls--and the high cost of the service ensures most conversations are brief. Another option the airlines could adopt eventually as a compromise is to allow “listen-only” calls where business passengers could participate silently in a conference call. Business travelers, aware of the discomfort other nearby passengers could experience from a two-way call in a meeting, suggested airlines and regulators consider the less intrusive call service. Airlines could set their own policies for passengers about in-flight phone calls, under the new proposal. Carriers that don’t allow phone service would not need to tell customers. However, domestic airlines that adopt a Wi-Fi phone technology would be required to give advance notice, the Transportation Department said. An exemption is given to an airliner with 60 or fewer seats. “Permitting passengers to make voice calls onboard aircraft may create an environment that is unfair and deceptive” to the other passengers who prefer a quiet cabin, the DOT rule says. Voice calls over a mobile wireless device could be acceptable to federal airline and transportation authorities, the DOT says. Passengers who switch to Wi-Fi mode on their cell phones, computers, tablets, and other portable electronic devices wouldn’t pose a risk to the safety of the aircraft, according to officials. The proposal includes Voice over Internet Protocol, which some businesses use instead of the phone companies. One airline is on record opposing the government’s regulation of voice calls inair, even though the carrier says it has no plans to introduce phone service in its fleet. Budget carrier Spirit Airlines told the DOT three years ago that airlines themselves should decide whether to notify customers about the possibility of midair phone conversations by other passengers in the cabin. It took a position See Call-free Zone, page 8
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