Why do we need to turn off our cell phones in a plane?

Question

What would happen if it was on during flight?

Answer 1

John B, the FCC would like to talk to you and your executives.  It's not the airlines or FAA that created this rule.   It was the Federal Communications Commission.  

       Cell phones are line of site devices with limited range. That's why cell towers are so common, for a phone to w***e you must be able to see a tower, without any major obstruction.  On the ground, your phones signal reaches 2 or 3 towers at most.  From a plane at 1500 feet on approach to land your chone may be able to be picked up by hundreds of towers.

      Now here is the part of this question that is always overlooked: you are not talking about a cell phone in a plane - you would be looking at hundreds of cell  phones in each plane. The chance of 1 phone causing a problem  interfering with the avionics of the plane or overloading the ground network is almost none existant.  But unless you are one of John B's executives flying in a Citation by yourself, you maybe talking about hundreds of people using hundreds of phones on every airplane.  That raises the likley hood of a problem occuring several fold. From a network standpoint, if 100 phones reach a 100 extra towers the nework now has another 10000 connections to handle.

Answer 2

As a flight attendant, I think that a major reason would be the safety factor.  Passengers do not listen to or watch the safety demo performed by the flight attendants as it is now.  Can you imagine what would happen if even 10 or 12 people were talking on their phones during takeoff and there was an emergency, making an evacuation necessary?  There would be mass chaos and those "talkers" wouldn't hear the evac commands and would cause distractions, preventing a timely evacuation by the rest of the passengers.

    By the way, I have accidently left my phone on all during a flight and when I remembered it, there was no signal at "altitude" anyway.

Answer 3

I think it probably has somthing to do with the radio or radar.

Answer 4

1) interferes with aircraft operation

2) in flight - you access toooooooooooo many

towers with your signal -

all the best

Answer 5

The FAA was recently investigating a plan to make cellphones legal on cellphones. They do not interfere in any way with the planes communications systems. They could, theoretically overload a cell grid by attempting to use a whole bunch of towers at once, but that's not the big problem with them. They'd be annoying as h**l, people don't want to sit next to someone who is talking on their cellphone; that is why the new rule failed to pass.

Answer 6

I've always wondered about that myself. A car has sensitive electronics in it as well and isn't effected by the cell phone. Most of the plane's sensitive equipment is located in the nose area and besides cell phones use ( line of sight) to receive successful signals from cell towers. You wouldn't be able to receive any calls once your out of this periphery. I think they tell you to shut off the phones just for the sake of not having to listen to everyone yelling into their phones. Another reason is that the airlines are probably conditioning people to do whatever they are told to do and not to question anything.

Answer 7

Nothing.

Why cant you do what the flight attendants ask? They have a hard enough job man.

But to answer your question there are theories about cell phones transmitting signals to interfere with ATC in the air and on the ground. Another theory is the airline wants you to pay attention to the safety briefing during takeoff and landing.

GSD GAL- You must understand a car is VERY different from a complex ed airplane.

Airplanes have complex ed ways of navigating.....VOR's etc. As i stated before, cell phones may interfere with that.

While in a car you just step on the pedal and follow the road, unlike a airplane.

Answer 8

The FCC has traditionally prohibited use of cell phones on aircraft, because it is worried the cell phones will activate too many base stations from their high altitude.  It is not a FAA restriction.

Cell phones are microwave transmitters and there is a slight chance that they could interfere with aircraft avionics under certain conditions, although I have yet to see a study that proves this.  Most operators prefer to err on the side of caution and prohibit the use of cell phones in flight.

All this is in a state of flux right now, and things may change.

Answer 9

Because its the law. The FAR/AIM states that using cell phones is not approved while taking off on any IFR or commercial flight plan.

Answer 10

Electromagnetic interference. What is wrong with being considerate of the person next to you, they are not interested in hearing you talk on the phone. I have met interesting people when I fly.

Answer 11

Cell phones do not disturb aircraft avionics in any way. I fly executive aircraft. If I told my passengers to turn off their cells I'd be looking for a new job and they've been using them since they were invented with no problems whatsoever for us in the cockpit. There is one reason and one reason only that the airlines don't want you to use yours. They would rather you slide your credit card into the little slot on the seat back phone in front of you. And it works. That is a huge profit center in the industry.

And what is the FAR/AIM you are refering to Dogzill......?

Answer 12

Cars do not have the same electronics that aircraft do.  And, it doesn't matter where the radios are, since the antennas for those radios are all over the aircraft.  I used to fly a jet that did strange things when cellphones were turned on.  I could hear the buzz in the radios, and also it would make the ILS needles go crazy.  Also, it depends on what cellphone you use.  You can have two of the same make and model, and one will cause interference while the other one won't.  Since cellphones are not made to TSO standards, they can be very different even if they look the same.  

I think they affect avionics more on newer aircraft, but since you cannot test every phone on every plane, it's best just not to use them.  Also, it's illegal under the FCC regulations, which is a good enough reason not to use them.  I'm surprised that john's passengers dont' install a flight phone on their jet, if they need to talk while in the air.  I hope he doesn't have to learn the hard way.

Also, you are welcome to only ask Comair, but be advised that he is a young man, about 14 or so, and has never flown an airline type jet.  I think he is taking flying lessons in a small plane, and he gets his answers from other people here on Yahoo.

Answer 13

Yes people don't like to listen to tards talk on the phones, but other electronic devices really have no threat what so ever. Check out the 3rd post on the link below

http://www.aviation-critic.blogspot.com/

Answer 14

first u will not be able to get the network at 36000ft

if the cell phone is on..then the most big problem comes in aircraft operation is disturbance due to interferance of the mobile radio waves with the aircraft radio waves which create a problem in talkin to atc fr pilot and navigate in right direction and all