American Airlines First Officer Kelly Caglia of American Airlines with an iPad in a Boeing 777 at the Los Angeles airport.

In my latest Disruptions column I argued that the Federal Aviation Administration should re-evaluate a rule requiring passengers to power down electronic devices before taking off and landing on airplanes. Specifically, I argue that passengers should be permitted to use electronics if they were turned to “airplane mode”; they could stop having phone conversations.

The column seems to have touched a nerve with readers. Below I have responded to some reader questions and comments:

Passengers using iPads and Kindles will be distracted if an emergency happens on the flight. Passengers need to be alert.

If this were the case, wouldn’t we tell people not to have books, magazines, newspapers and crossword puzzles during this critical part of a flight? Also, we don’t ask passengers on other forms of public transportation, including buses, trains, boats and cars — where far more accidents happen than planes — to shut down their iPhones or iPads when the vehicle begins moving. Should we tell people they can’t sleep during this time either in case something happens?

An e-reader or iPhone could hurt someone if it fell out of a passenger’s hands in turbulence.

The iPad 2 weighs 1.3 pounds; the hardcover version of the Steve Jobs book weighs 2.4 pounds. There are plenty of other projectiles on planes that could be dealt with, too.

I don’t want to sit next to someone who is yapping away on their cellphone while we land.

Neither do I. As I said in the column, I’m not arguing that people should be allowed to make phone calls or video chat with their significant other during a flight. I just want to read an e-book during takeoff or landing.

Didn’t the F.A.A. test devices to see if they could harm a plane’s navigation system?

These tests date back to 2006 and do not take into consideration any of the electronics that are primarily used by people today, including the Apple iPhone and iPad, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook and a variety of other tablets and e-readers. Reporters I’ve spoken with who travel with the president of the United States on Air Force One told me that the Secret Service never requires anyone to power down their electronics before takeoff.

I’ve heard that all electronics can interfere with a plane.

The F.A.A. has a list of approved electronic devices that can be used during takeoff and landing: portable voice recorders, hearing aids, pacemakers, electric shavers or anything else that will not interference with the navigation or communication system of the aircraft. Once an e-reader, like a Kindle, has its wireless antennas turned off, the technology inside these gadgets is essentially equivalent to a calculator or an electric shaver. Most modern electric shavers or portable voice recorders come packed with as much technology as a Kindle or an iPod Nano.

Flights will go haywire if a gadget is used under 10,000 feet.

There are some claims that pilots have seen instruments go haywire because of electromagnetic interference from devices being turned on below 10,000 feet. The F.A.A., CTIA, and Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics were unable to show, in several reports over the last few decades, that a gadget being turned on could cause any interference with a plane’s navigation systems. There have been fewer than a hundred anecdotal reports despite hundreds of million of flights flown. No government report has stated there is conclusive proof.

We should just be cautious and turn off our devices.

The F.A.A.’s rules say people should fully shut down their electronic devices before takeoff and landing. They allow passengers to restart their gadgets once the plane is above 10,000 feet, past the reach of cell towers. However, most modern electronics are not designed to be shut down; they are built to go to “sleep.” When these devices are restarted, current passes through every crevice, wire and sensor, creating far more electromagnetic charge than if they were simply put into airplane mode, which disables a gadget’s radios.

It’s only a short amount of time that you don’t get to use your device. Don’t be so impatient.

That is not actually true. Airlines ask passengers to turn off their devices when the plane leaves the gate, a long time before it even reaches the runway. Additionally, passengers are told to power down their devices when the plane begins its initial descent from 35,000 feet. This is about 20 minutes before a plane touches down on the ground.