I think it’s more an enormous band-aid because cell networks were too afraid of the infrastructure effects of devices traveling at 500mph, perhaps especially with poor signal quality.

If it was a safety issue, wireless devices would be outright banned.

Dangerous chemicals, weapons, and such are not allowed. They can’t just be “off” in a box because accidents do happen.

Think nobody forgets to turn airplane mode on?

At this point, I’m really not sure why we keep up the ruse.

We live in a bizarro world where a small bottle of water is a bigger security threat than an RF transmitter.

I really like having the ability to turn off my device's radio transmitters, even if the name "airplane mode" no longer makes sense for it.