The woman next to me was looking at me as if I was some kind of terrorist. I was finishing up an SMS message and I might as well have been feeding cyanide to her baby.
The persistence of this urban myth about cell phones being able to cause a plane crash is unbelievable. No planes have ever crashed due to WiFi or cellular interference and I challenge anyone to produce one confirmed instance.
From David Pogue’s blog: “Cellphones were initially banned from aircraft in the U.S. at the request of the cell carriers and the FCC. Navigation issues were not the real reason for the ban; it was cellphone companies who asked for the ban, based on technological interference issues. The public wasn’t told the truth because many people would not care if they caused interference to wireless networks, but most everyone cares if an aircraft’s navigation might be affected.”
Basically, the cellular system does not deal effectively with a cell phone moving at 500 miles per hour. It can’t handle the handoff from tower to tower that quickly, and then there is the problem of determining the nearest tower when you are 5 miles up in the sky. The skipping around from tower to tower also runs down your cell phone battery in a hurry.
There are actually plane manufacturers and carriers who have piloted WiFi service on planes for travelers. Personally, I’m more concerned about solar radiation and microwaves than cellular signals.
There are many reasons to not allow cell phone use on planes — like the sound of 200 people all yacking away on a 5 hour flight — but crashing the plane is not one of them.
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December 14th, 2007 at 10:21 am
You have an iPhone, right? Didn’t you turn on and show her Airplane Mode?
December 14th, 2007 at 10:52 am
Actually, I didn’t have Airplane Mode turned on yet. I was finishing up an SMS message as we were sitting on the tarmac, waiting in line for takeoff. I do put it in Airplane Mode before takeoff, mostly to not drain my battery.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Actually, it is not about crashing the plane. It is about the potential radio interference caused by electronic devices during take-off and landing. This is why it is OK to use them in mid flight.
Have you ever placed a cell phone or some other device near a radio? there is an interference in the signal. It is this interference they are trying to avoid. If a pilot gets misunderstood instruction during taxi or landing you and yours could find yourself crashing into another aircraft.