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Although some countries soften the rules for using airplane mode during flights, it is best to follow the instructions of crew members and use airplane mode when instructed.
If you’ve ever wondered why your phone should be on a plane during flight, you’re not alone. In fact, very common flyers cannot recite the causes of the rule, while others have forgotten to include it. So, what really happens when you don’t use airplane mode? It depends on who you ask.
“It’s not a damn thing,” says Gary Cox, a pilot and a 7,000 flying hours instructor, including a time of jet piloting, helicopters and gliders. A mechanic of an airline based in Washington who wants to remain anonymous, tells Travel + free time He agrees to Cox’s moods. However, most aviation experts admit that it is careful to put your phone in airplane mode, even if the consequences are not so terrible.
“No, your aircraft will not fall out of the sky and it won’t even get the systems on board. However, it has the potential to mess with the headphones,” explains Pilot and a veteran of the US Army, which runs a perchpoint of Tiktok, where his virus video is already in December 2024. He continues to explain that even three or four Boeing 737 passengers have their phones trying to connect to a cellular network, there is a potential that radio waves from their phones can interfere with the radio waves of the pilot cab.
Because pilots often have limited visibility, they rely on Intel that receive from the ground through their headphones, especially for take -off and landing (when most aviation accidents appear). If the radio waves on the mobile phone interfere with headphones, pilots can usually still hear instructions from the control tower, but the audio may be less clear. Perchpoint likens it to the buzzing noise that a mosquito makes and says is “annoying”.
A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) declined to tell T+L if they were aware of incidents where a non -air passenger phone had caused an incident. However, they said the FAA maintained that the use of a mobile phone (and any personal electronic device) was only allowed on flight if it did not affect the safety or communication systems of the aircraft. FAA is taking its alerts from the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), which in 1991 banned all use of a mobile phone on flight, as it was determined that signals on a mobile phone could interfere with “critical aircraft tools”.
However, in 2013, FCC reviewed the topic, noting that technology progress means that passengers can use their phones as long as they are in plane. Their research has indicated that “the technology that can be installed directly on an airplane is now available to prevent such intervention and has already been successfully deployed in many other countries around the world without incidents.” The same year, CNN reported an international survey by the Air Transport Association, which found that since 2003-2009 there were only 29 cases where mobile phones were suspected of causing electronic interruption of the device.
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A passenger uses his phone on a plane.
Today, passengers flying in the UK and the European Union are not asked to put their phones in aircraft mode. They can even send text messages and respond to calls if their airline allows it. This is because the European Commission not only approved 5G technology during flight, but imposed it. As of June 2023, the airlines of EU members are required to equip their aircraft with special network equipment that uses a satellite network to keep passengers connected. Called Picocel, this equipment is like a portable cell tower.
Unfortunately, 5G networks in Europe are different from their American counterparts. They use a shorter frequency, which does not interfere with the technology of the aircraft the way in which countries 5G networks that operate at a higher frequency can. That is why travelers flying in the US cannot expect the FAA (which has not updated its 2017 aircraft rule) to apply the same technology soon. So far, a FAA public affairs specialist tells T+L that passengers are obliged to follow all the safety instructions for crew members, even if they come without explanation.
Although there are no reports that passengers are closed to refuse to put their phones in aircraft mode, there are cases where passengers were punished. In 2016, a British passenger flying Flybe is now a non-existent regional airline-over $ 600 from Amsterdam to Exeter, for his disobedience. You can even be kicked out of the plane. It happened in 2018, when a passenger flying from Indiana, spores with a flight attendant about whether her phone is in plane.
Despite all the contradictions, at the end of the day it is best to consider and put your phone in a plane mode when you want. In airplane mode, your phone does not try to connect to a cell tower so that it retains the battery. Plus, one of the best parts for being at Cruising Altitude is to be inaccessible and recharge your social battery. Sit back (but wait to read your place until after taking off), relax and enjoy the fields.
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