Flammability of Jet Fuel & Cell phones in hospitals
Jet fuel is basically kerosene, not particularly volatile and not easy to ignite. Gasoline is much more likely to cause problems with sparks, which are very unlikely to occur from a cell phone anyway. I have never seen a report of a fire caused by cell phone igniting a fire. Navigation is another consideration, but I would be willing to bet that there is not a well structured study that shows a problem with interference, or any historical evidence that shows a problem with an aircraft. My iPhone and iPad will interfere with my handheld GPS unit if kept within a foot of it, but have no effect at 16 inches. (Interestingly enough the GPS unit in the iPad works well and is more sensitive than the Garmin 76Cx.)
As far as cell phone use in hospitals, I work daily in an operating room surrounded by very sensitive monitoring equipment and frequently see cell phones n use. Medical staff members use our cell phones and pagers to communicate all the time without any discernible interference. If RF interference was a real problem electrocautery (actually RF cautery) and harmonic scalpels would be a serious problem, they aren't significant.
I wouldn't want to spend several hours in an aircraft next to some idiot discussing his business or social life at high volume on a phone. That being said, I applaud the ban on cell phone use on aircraft and would like to see it continued, but safety has no bearing on my feelings. YMMV, but I doubt it
