It makes sense, but you’re also 5-6 miles above the tower and the cellphone tower antennas that I’ve seen face parallel to the ground. There’s going to be some slop, but they’re not spherical or pointing straight up at planes flying overhead. The plane is also moving quickly through cells, not hovering above a set of towers.
I have heard that explanation from an Ericsson director that was giving a talk to our EE class back in 1995. The fast movement and constant switching from tower to tower was also bad for their systems, where a few phones might not be too terrible but plane loads of phones would cause issues.
Electronic devices possibly leaking a small amount of radiation are one thing. Phones actively transmitting are another. I think it’s at least reasonable for the government to drag their feet on phones for now.
I’ve had flight attendants explain that to me as the rationale before. Then again, if they knew the science behind cell phone operation and electronic interference, they probably wouldn’t be flight attendants so I take that with a grain of salt.
Dean
2645
Mythbusters did an episode on this, but the FAA blocked them every chance they had.
That’s a quick summary of the actual episode, the actual episode had much more FAA wankery.
WarrenM
2646
What does “getting people to pay attention during safety briefings” have to do with the science behind cell phone operation? I know you just wanted a reason to dismiss them out of hand but that correlation doesn’t make sense.
sinnick
2647
He’s saying that flight attendants are stupid.
SlyFrog
2648
So under the “multiple celltowers hit” thing, why do I have to turn off my iPod?
WarrenM
2649
As was said earlier, it’s just easier to make it a blanket rule rather than to inspect each passenger’s device and see that it’s set correctly.
WarrenM
2650
Yeah, which is ignorant. They’re regular people just like everyone else. There will be dumb ones and smart ones among their numbers.
sinnick
2651
I totally agree. Not sure why he made that point.
Back to the topic at hand, I think the best explanation I’ve heard for why they ask you to turn off non-network-enabled devices is dtolman’s: there is no real reason, but the flight crew simply doesn’t have time to inspect every single device to make 100% sure that it is in “airplane mode”, so they just ask you to turn it off completely.
Of course, being the Chaotic Good fella that I am, I usually just take off my earbuds to appease them, and then I start listening to music again once they are seated and belted in for takeoff.
SlyFrog
2652
But I’m talking about devices that in no possible way connect to cellphone towers.
I get the “set correctly” thing. But it just reaches a level of stupid when they’re asking to turn off any electronic device, if that’s the reason.
WarrenM
2653
Because some people won’t realize that their device has a wireless unit in it. Because some people will THINK they’ve set the device correctly, but haven’t.
I mean … do you really think it’s worth the extra time on the runway to have them individually approve each device that people want to use during take off?
Nope. But I do enjoy listening to Blind Guardian while an aging attendant explains how seatbelts work for the 9th time that day, unless I end up with a paranoid neighbor. Haven’t crashed and burned yet, and I view it as my tiny act of rebellion against the enormous anti-consumer engine that is modern air travel.
WarrenM
2655
Do what you gotta do, man. Those precious minutes of music listening will be lost forever if you don’t buck the system. Fight the power!
JoshV
2656
but… being wireless isn’t an issue, it’s having cell phone functionality.
WarrenM
2657
Great, thanks for the clarification. However, even with that inaccuracy, I’m sure you can see what I’m getting at.
I think the larger issue is that many devices just don’t really “power off” even when the average consumer thinks they’ve shut it down.
Take the kindle as an example. If you turn it “off” - meaning you’ve hit the little switch that turns the screen-saver design on - it’s actually still running on standby and (as I understand it) is still occasionally pinging the cell network with a status. You’d have to go into the preferences and turn off the wireless connection to make it harmless, and I bet that 90% of kindle owners don’t actually realize that.
Well, it’s that, or make crude sexual jokes at TSA Gropers and risk getting tazed. I mean, what’s a youthful rebel to do in this day and age?
I don’t understand what is so hard about this. They ask everyone to turn everything off during the takeoff and landing. Just do it. Are you really going to die if you don’t get ten extra minutes of your playlist or Angry Birds?
