Can you use cell phones in an airplane? If you can't, how did people use their cell phones on the 911 planes?

Question

Can you use cell phones in an airplane? If you can't, how did people use their cell phones on the 911 planes?

Answer 1

It is also one more object that could become a missile during a crash or turbulence.

Answer 2

they work but your not allowed to use them. I think your allowed in europe.

Answer 3

Are you allowed to use a cell phone on a plane? No, unless you are on the ground and have been told by the flight crew that you may.

Why not? Early cellular phones could possibly bleed over into the communications between the plane, other planes and the ground. Newer digital phones do not have this problem. I assume that it's been kept in place to save the airlines from having to deal with phone conversations and others complaining. There is no effect on plane instruments (check out Mythbusters, not sure which episode).

Is it possible to you a cell phone on a moving plane? Highly unlikely. While planes are in the air, their height and velocity are factors in getting a signal. Being 6-7 miles up and moving at 500kt (roughly 500mph) is not going to get you a signal anywhere with any standard phone. Even at half the velocity and height, you still will not get a signal, even when flying over an urban area, densely populated with phone towers. I try on just about every commercial flight I'm on and unless I'm under 100 feet or so (take offs and landings) I never get anything on my Verizon or Sprint phones.I have also tried in a friends small propeller plane. Travelling at a slower speed and not quite as high, i can sometimes manage a signal but rarely could I do more than get a signal, make a call and have more than 30 seconds of talk time no matter my location.

What about satellite phones? Phones which transmit and receive using satellites are more powerful and aren't subject to the height and velocity restrictions of normal mobile phones. I have seen one used on a commercial flight and it worked well. This is also the technology behind the in-seat phones.

What about people who used cell phones during 9/11? Those stories are not true. It's not possible to have the conversations that were reported using standard mobile phones. There are no records of these conversations other than second hand reports via media. Couple this with other half truths and cover-ups regarding 9/11 and draw your own conclusions.

Answer 4

You're not supposed to use your phones on an airplane, it screws with something but I'm not sure what. Some people use their phones anyways. One of my friends went on a trip and she was texting me on her flight so she wouldn't freak out. As for the 911 planes I'm not totally sure how they did it.

Answer 5

Yes you can, it's just not allowed by the FAA.

Answer 6

you can use if signals are available

Answer 7

You can physically use them, but they CAN interfere with radio signals between the ground and the pilot/co-pilot. Some airlines are using new systems to allow trials of flights with cell phones allowed. It has been speculated though that cell phone use doesn't really interfere with anything, and is just not allowed to allow for a quieter flight for other passengers. As for 9/11, because they can still be used, and only a certain number of inflight satellite phones can be used at once, many people likely wanted to call loved ones on their cells.

Answer 8

No. They didn't.

Answer 9

the answer is no you can not use your cell phone on the plane because if something happens the flight attendant's have phone in the back on the plane or they will tell the pilot and they can contact air control tower and they can contact 911 for you.

example: if someone is having some type of problem like their water broke then you can get the flight attendant.

Answer 10

I think you can use some cellphones, but you're actually not allowed to use them. There's a difference between not being able to do something, and not being allowed to do it.

Answer 11

There is a difference between can and may, for starters.

As for the "can" that depends on a great many things, including where you are sitting on the airplane, where the airplane is (over what location,) and how high the airplane is. And even on whether the airplane is banked to the right or left, or flying level.

Answer 12

It's banned.

911 had in-plane phones attached to the back of the seat.

Answer 13

When phones ping for signals at 35,000 feet, they can hit hundreds of towers at once, necessitating complicated parsing of roaming agreements. Providers don't want the hassle if they're not being properly compensated, so the government has left the plane ban in place.

Answer 14

Not legally, but yes...you can.  The reason the FAA does not want to allow cell phone use boils down to the fact that they do not want to spend money on tests to see if it is safe or not.  The airlines are responsible for that if they want cell phones on board and they, too, do not see any benefit in spending the money on the testing.

What happens in normal cell phone use is that you are on the ground and near a tower.  Your cell phone is designed to use a small amount of power to connect you to the closest tower.  As a result, you'll only use one tower at a time.  In an airplane, you are far away from the towers, but still in range.  Your cell phone, depending on the phone itself, can still reach those towers, but it tends to access more than one tower at a time and uses a LOT more power.  That increase in power is one of the things that airplane officials worry about because it might interfere with communications with air traffic control.

The mobile phones are also designed to seek out a tower and might see some of the wireless components on an aircraft as a tower and thus interfere with their transmission.

This is mostly theoretical, but again...nobody wants to spend the money to test it.

So the answer to your question is yes...you CAN use a cell phone on an airplane.  

Matt