Do cell phones really "interfere with the aircrafts navigation system"?

Question

I travel a lot and very frequently notice people who don't turn off their phones. Phones sometimes go off and are even answered. I have never seen or heard of any mishaps as a consequence. Why do airlines insist so vehemently on preventing passengers from using their phones?

Answer 1

Mythbusters on Discovery channel proved that they do not interfere with aircraft communications.

Answer 2

This is a pretty frequently asked question.

Every airplane made has to go through intense safety testing.  For cell phones to be allowed on planes, the planes need to be certified as safe to be able to do so.  There is just way too many kinds of phones and electronic devices out there (and too many new ones always coming out) for this kind of testing to be practical.

A few phones on in standby mode in a plane?  It shouldn't cause any noticeable issues.  But what if there was a plane full of 300 people, all using their phones?

First of all, it would be very annoying.  People are already rude enough about using cell phones in public places.  That would be a frequent flyer's nightmare.

Safety-wise, since airplanes are basically metal tubes, if you had a lot of people talking on a phone, most of the signals would be trapped inside of the plane - they would bounce around and amplify.  If everybody was on a phone, the signals could potentially be amplified enough to cause interference with the aircraft systems.

There is also a problem with the FCC.  Cell phones were designed as a land-based system.  How would the system react to 200,000 people making calls from the air at the same time, with line-of-sight access to thousands of towers?  Nobody knows yet.

The main reason that airlines insist that passengers don't use cell phones on the plane is that it's against federal aviation regulations.  They can't allow it legally.

Answer 3

One cellphone might do nothing, while another one of the same make and model might.  Cellphones are not manufactured to the same tolerances as items that go on aircraft, so they may do different things to the aircraft.  Just because mythbusters tried a few phones in a particular jet, doesn't mean that same phone could have interfered in another aircraft, or another phone could have interfered with that same jet.  There is really no way to test this.  I have flown aircraft that were sensitive to cellphones.  We could actually hear a buzzing in our headsets when someone turned on on, or answered it.  It also sometimes interfered with our navigation displays.  I think the more modern, computer controlled aircraft are more likely to have a problem with this.

Answer 4

It does in effect  interrupt some of the satellite nav systems and transponder frequencies

Answer 5

place your cell phone near to your CRT PC monitor and watch the monitor while the cell phone tries to reach the signal. or place it close to the loudspeaker, nad listen to the music interfered with the cellphone transmission.

Yes the cell phones occasionally interfere with the aircraft systems. more than that, in the FL 200 there is NO cellphone coverage. the transmission distribution is rather flat and follows the earth surface.

at least the cellphone searching for the signal could interrupt IMPORTANT radio transmission in the similar way it noises the loudspeaker music.... headphones are just another loudspeaker.

Answer 6

YES. No doubt about it ,the 800MHZ and above frequencies really do interfer with aircraft equipment.My understanding of it is they create noise which can cause problems with their electronics.

Answer 7

NO............Iam a Loadmaster on the C117 a military cargo plane and i make calls all the time. Nothing ever happends. The airlines just tell you that to if that 1% chance something will happens they be able to communicate. If you dont believe me do more research on it.