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| Passenger using ANA Takeoff Mode app. Photo: ANA |
[Avionics Today 12-11-2014] All Nippon Airways has launched a new smartphone app designed to relax passengers during takeoff. Japan’s largest airline found that 72 percent of United States airline passengers surveyed felt anxious before flying, with takeoff the most stress inducing part of the journey. In response to this, ANA developed the ANA Takeoff Mode app to distract nervous passengers at the start of the flight.
The new app, which can be downloaded for free at the Apple App store, takes the form of a simple but absorbing puzzle where users have to maneuver a ball on screen to collect points with relaxing music playing in the background. While in use, the app measures the amplitude and frequency response of the ambient noise inside the aircraft cabin so that when the aircraft’s engines are at full throttle during takeoff, the audio profile triggers a special animation and message for the user.
The app is one of the first to take advantage of the FAA’s October announcement that airlines can safely expand passenger use of Portable Electronic Devices (PEDs) during all phases of flight.