Agreed. The airplane (while in the air) does not know if you are turning up wind, down wind, or cross wind.
My wife and I departed Marysville KS with winds 30G50 right down the runway. Other than allowing for the gusts on take off with an extra 10 knots, the plane behaved normally as we turned cross wind and down wind and at pattern altitude the wind was a LOT more than 30G50 as we had over a 100 knot tail wind at 1500 feet.
Lets see... Coming up to the FAF very close to the GS intercept when the tower comes back with the updated clearance which I am obliged to copy. Would texting be any more distracting in *ANY* phase of flight? I don't really think so. Welll... if I tried texting *while* trying to copy that updated clearance then I'd have to say yes, but other than that, it doesn't even come close and I wouldn't even answer the phone (which is supposed to be off) during an approach.
Having said that, I have had all functions on my phone disabled (at the phone company) except voice. I do not want to be looking at weather on a tiny screen, or trying to copy text off a small screen. So what if they give me a smart phone for free with a contract? Those are not things I want so I have a nice phone that only works as a phone.
I still spend a good 8 hours a day on computers, either fixing, building, programming, or surfing although about half of that is spent on e-mail. Give me a cell phone with a 25" diagonal wide screen and I might consider texting or using it for other than voice. <:-))
