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Re: filmscanners: X-ray and digital camera
Austin writes:
> I'm sorry, Anthony, but your claim of a hoax
> is false. Now, you're an expert on airline trays?
No, but after talking to Airbus and the IATA about this very hoax, I was able to
confirm that it is baseless. The original hoax was a circulating Internet story
about two people flying on a Sabena flight and having their PCs ruined by
"magnetic tray tables." It was claimed that this was an A340 (that's why I
wanted to confirm this with Airbus). But the A340 contains no magnetic trays.
The IATA issued a public statement debunking this hoax about 48 hours after I
talked to them about it, as I recall. I believe this was in late 1997 or early
1998, but I'm not sure. The hoax has been around a long time.
> I was on staff with a very large computer
> company, and the company intentionally did a
> study, and published a report ...
Why didn't it just ask the aircraft manufacturer if the trays were really
magnetic?
> ...and problems were reported to exist...
Well, Internet hoaxes report problems to exist, but that doesn't mean that the
reports are true.
The debunking of this hoax pointed out some interesting things, such as the fact
that the motor in the disk drive generates a stronger magnetic field than the
tray would be able to create, as I recall. There are a number of technical
obstacles which would make it hard for a tray to scramble a drive, even if
magnetic trays really were in use.
> If I told you my car was white, you would argue
> with me, even though you have never seen my car.
No ... I'd just ask to see the car.
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