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Ethan Trex
Why Can’t I Use My Cell Phone On An Airplane?
by Ethan Trex - April 13, 2009 - 10:00 AM

cell.jpgThe Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) bars the use of all transmitting devices in the off chance that transmissions could interfere with a plane’s navigation and communications equipment and cause system malfunctions. It’s true that these concerns are overblown, but the FAA likes to err on the side of caution. (Can you blame them?)

The real reason authorities don’t want you flipping open your mobile phone has less to do with crashing your plane and more to do with crashing the cell phone network. The Federal Communications Commission has determined that mid-flight calls have a direct impact on cell phone service on the ground. That’s because cell phones are primarily designed for callers who are firmly planted on land, communicating with a single, nearby tower. If you’re speeding through the sky at 550 mph, your phone will connect with multiple towers and eat up valuable space on their circuits, wreaking havoc on service. A 2007 plan to lift the ban was strongly opposed by cell carriers for this reason. So, at least for a while, frequent flyers should recline their seatbacks and enjoy the last place on Earth that’s free of cell phone chatter.

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Comments (10)

  1. I, for one, am glad for the no phone rule on planes. Can you imagine how loud flights would be if everyone was on their phone the whole time?

    posted by nutmeag on 4-13-2009 at 11:11 am

  2. Maybe you can do a second take on this re: why people are allowed to gab on phones while the aircraft is taxiing to the gate, but everything else (non-radio emitters) is prohibited.

    posted by inquiring minds on 4-13-2009 at 11:44 am

  3. Agreed. I think the ban should exist if only to prevent inconsiderate people from yapping the entire flight.

    posted by Janet on 4-13-2009 at 11:58 am

  4. Cel phones are the newest addictive drug. It kills brain cells, it kills ‘common’ sense, causing the addicts to have to check their phones every other minute, especially noticeable in the dark of a theater, where the piercing, blinding bright blue light is like a cocaine fix.

    The flight from HNL to OGG is 20 minutes long –that’s it, 20 minutes– but watch all the cel phones flip open in the cabin once the plane’s landing gear hits the tarmac. The addicted can’t help but yap or text, it’s been a whole 20 minutes since their last fix, it’s truly a disease.

    posted by James on 4-13-2009 at 1:43 pm

  5. I really enjoy the break from my phone….I hope they never change the law. I’d really hate to have to sit there and listen to one side of other people’s conversations….especially when there wouldn’t be anywhere else for me to get away….

    posted by Jenipher on 4-13-2009 at 4:04 pm

  6. so how bout the hospital rule…how come patients and visitors aren’t supposed to use cell phones because of fear of interference with hospital gadgets, yet the staff run around chattering away on cells?

    posted by Michele on 4-13-2009 at 7:59 pm

  7. I was a part of the industry planning and policy setting groups during 2007 regarding Airborne use. There is some pretty good spin in the article.

    “A 2007 plan to lift the ban was strongly opposed by cell carriers for this reason.”

    AT&T/Cingular, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, and Sprint were all active participants in the planning and policy discussions while the auction for the down-link spectrum was still going on.

    It wasn’t until after the big-4 lost the spectrum auction to Aircell and Jet Blue that the “interference problems” cropped up.

    While ground interference was indeed the reason that the ban was initially put in place, those problems were an issue with the high-wattage analog systems from long ago.

    Digital systems run with much less power, the mobile devices have the capability to have power output controlled by the base station. Other active systems can shield any emissions to the point where they really have no effect on the ground systems.

    Today, only the on-board Wi-Fi systems are using the downlink spectrum.

    posted by Wireless Insider on 4-13-2009 at 9:03 pm

  8. If someone were talking next to me on a flight, I would ask them questions about their conversation. If they ever do lift the ban, there will be violence.

    posted by Dale on 4-14-2009 at 2:40 am

  9. the cellphone ban appears reasonable, if only for the comfort of everyone else crammed on the plane; however, i’m truly offended that laptop and ipod use is prohibited. These forms of electronics are not only incapable of interfering with the plane’s systems, they face none of the issues connected with cellphones as well.

    and yet, we are nonsensical instructed to put away the very electronics that make us not care about our lack of leg room and sardine-like state. That needs to be changed.

    posted by anson on 4-14-2009 at 3:41 am

  10. Many of the European airlines were looking at offering cell service during flights, and I believe the first airline to contract the service is Air Emirates (Middle Eastern airline).

    This was a couple years ago, so I’m curious if the program went forward and how people responded. (The idea was to have a sender/receiver on the plane, and the time would be billed through it in connection with the major cell phone carriers in Europe).

    posted by Logan on 4-14-2009 at 7:00 am

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