Is it true that using ur phone on a plane will make it act up, or just cause they want u 2 use there phone?

Question

Im flying tonight, I know this is stupid, but please answer

Answer 1

i wouldnt say 1 phone would make a difference,but lots would affect the redar so the rules are very fair

Answer 2

It's a common misconception. A cell phone can't affect the communications or navigation equipment on board. The frequencies are nowhere near the ones used by aircraft.

The primary push for the rule was to force you to pay $10.00 a minute for the Airphone.

Most airlines are scrambling to install equipment that will allow you to use your cell phone in flight. This is because a cell phone won't work in flight if you're more than about 5,000 feet above ground level anyway. I fly in my company's jet farily often and the crew doesn't care if we try to use our phones. I've tested it several times and it works OK up to around 5,000 feet to about 7,500 feet. After that, no signal at all.

Answer 3

Duke university recently published a stude finding that cell phones DO in fact interfere with crew communications on board an aircraft. And I can say that from personal experience, having accidentally left mine on and received a call immediately after landing, the radios on the aircraft got very "pulsy" (kind of an electronic screech instead of the typical soft shhhhhhhh that we normally hear) and impossible to understand. It could have been a coincidence, except that they only made the strange sound then the phone was actually ringing.

Answer 4

What's interesting is that a recent study partially funded by the IEEE (as I recall) found that MORE interference is generated by portable DVD players and iPods than laptops or cell phones. I guess because they have not been properly screened for that, i dunno.

The poster who says one cell phone won't do harm but a planeful will is more or less right, though.

I'm usually too busy trying to find new homes for my toothpaste and glucose gels to call anyone on the phone. P.S. who else thinks that is stupid?

Answer 5

The cell phone will not effect the plane, however you may find that flying 6 miles up you are out of range of any cell towers.

Answer 6

The fear is that using a cell phone will screw up the aircraft's navigational instruments. My opinion, as both an electronic engineer and licensed pilot and aircraft owner, is that this is horse----. But one needs to keep the flight crew happy, so stow the phone when they shut the door.

Answer 7

You are requested to turn off your cell phone, or any other electronic device that transmits, while in flight. The transmitter can mess up the electronic flight instruments.

Although some flights have a phone available to passengers, most do not.

Answer 8

Apparently it doesn't make it act up although I don't believe it's a ploy to get you to use their phones because we're told to turn them off in the UK and we don't have phones on (most of) our planes.

Answer 9

Check out Mythbusters at Discovery.com. They did an episode on it and it affects navigation equipment.

Answer 10

Well, answer this, Can your cell phone carrier find you at 35,000 feet in the air? I think not.