Filming on a commercial jet in Flight

[Glen Trew]

OK so why bother with any attempted voluntary control of cell phones if the entire reason for this is to stop them being used as a trigger, but anyone who was going to use it for that purpose would be very unlikely to voluntarily comply, and therefore renders the attempted control completely ineffective?

That is why bother at all with please switch phones off or put them in flight mode, if it's a complete waste of time?

Pretty much, yes... It's a waste of time. The whole anti cell phone thing started way back in the analog days when a cell phone could tie up lots of cells from the air. Back then there were lots of places on the ground that didn't have cell coverage, but when using the old Motorola "Brick" cell phone in my airplane there were never any dropouts (see phone below). The phone companies didn't like it, so they got the airlines involved. It was also a win for the airlines because it made it easier to sell telephone service. The idea of it being a safety thing (with the possible exception of the remote trigger) has always been a fabrication. Regarding the flight attendant who said it was so that they could get the attention of passengers in an emergency, that is only the excuse for requiring that headphones not be used while close to the ground.

 

But the short answer is that you can use your US-legal wireless mics on an airliner without safety concerns.

 

 

gt

[pindrop]

Extraordinary then that all that effort worldwide by hundreds of airlines is wasted on something useless.

I've always wondered about harmonics, intermodulation and plane loads of people zipping past transceiver cells on the ground myself?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_on_aircraft

[Glen Trew]

Interesting Wikipedia assessment on the subject of cell phones in airplanes, which seems to confirm my own. So, as mentioned, there are no safety concerns from using cell phones (or US legal wireless microphones) on airliners.

 

gt

[chrismedr]

The reason cell phones are disallowed and "airplane mode" is an inflight rule, has nothing to do with interference with the avionics, but only to do with the ability for someone to trigger a bomb from inside the aircraft.

 

that's the funniest argument i've ever heard for the cell phones to be switched off - i can just imagine some guy who has managed to smuggle a bomb on board thinking mid flight:

"ah, now would be a good time to switch my phone out of airplane mode and trigger the bomb, but they said that it might interfere with their navigation system, possibly crashing the plane, so i better leave it off."

 

ok, maybe not funny but weird as hell

chris

[Glen Trew]

Funny and weird because it was never about safety, but only about the cell companies and the airlines protecting their commercial options. What amazes me is that they got away with it for so long. I always figured it was because the news media thinks of aviation with so much mystique that they never questioned those policies. Plus, they like to say things like, "...might interfere with navigations devices..." Ooooooo, that sounds baaaad.