Who actually turns off their mobile phone?

Do you turn off your mobile phone during a flight?


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one9

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Just wondering what percentage of people actually turn off their mobile phone when flying.

I remember reading a report once saying that the chance of a mobile phone actually interfering with an aircraft is extremely small, and that the main reason for the airline to ask you to turn off the phone is (a) as a safety measure just in case as there has not been an extensive amount of research into it. (b) that the radiation inside the aircraft may be slightly higher for other passengers than in most situations and (c) that the network providers have asked airlines to ask passengers to turn off mobile phones as mobile phones above the towers use much more resources than normal.

It seems that the real reasons may be one or part of the above or other. I believe some airlines are investigating options of having network equipment on the plane so that people can use their normal mobile phones during flight.

Just wondering if others leave their mobile turned on, or if you turn it off?
 
Here are some relevant articles from CASA about mobile phones in flight.

http://www.casa.gov.au/fsa/2001/jul/58.pdf
http://www.casa.gov.au/fsa/2003/sep/33.pdf


Do you really want to be the one responsible if your phone causes interference to a plane's operation? One only needs to think back to the Jetstar "gassing" incident only a few months ago to see the consequences of someone doing the wrong thing on a plane.

Yes, Boeing et.al are doing trials with mobile phones. However, there are differences. By having a picocell onboard, your phone doesn't have to try as hard to get a signal. The weaker the signal you get, the more chance of causing interference as your phone increases the transmitting power.
 
Actually, in the latest issue (March/April 2006) of Flight Safety Australia (I received yesterday), there is an article on this exact subject.

On Page 14, under Flight Notes, there is the following statment:

Flight Safety Australia said:
Study Confirms cellphone effects

New research has confirmed the use of mobile phones during flight disrupts coughpit operations, especially global navigation satellite system (GNSS) positioning devises.

Researchers monitoring flights in the USA found that several cell-phones calls are typically made on commercial flights during take-off or final approach, two critical flight stages where accidents could occur.

US researchers at Carnegie Mellon University monitored radio emmissions from passengers on three airlines with the support of the Transportation Security Agency. The emmissions were tracked using a broadband antenna that was attached to a portable spectrum anaylser in a piece of carry-on luggage.

The researchers found that the electromagnetic interference generated was sufficient to impact a plane's navigation or other systems. The study, which was partially funded by the US Federal Aviation Administration, was published in the march issue of the technology journal IEEE Spectrum.

The Civil Aviation Safety Autority bans use of moble phones at any stage of flight. Limited use is permitted during taxi for some sectors.

I believe you are placing at risk your own life, together with everybody else, by continuing to keep your mobile on during flight. Commonsense should dictate you follow the directions of crew who are upholding the CASA directives.

one9, I'm glad to see that you edited your initial post, however I presume your comments were your actions. Personally I don't care if one wants to win a Darwin Award, so long as one dies or is injured by themselves.
 
odoherty said:
I always turn it off.
Shame on the person who said they don't !!

I always turn mine off.

I was once on a flight and after landing in Melbourne and turning onto the taxiway a rather irritated captain came on complaining about the person that had their phone on in the final stages of descent/landing. I guess it caused some sort of interference up front.

I am appalled that somebody admits to complete disregard for the law in this matter.
 
I turn mine off when instructed and turn it on as soon as I am told that it is OK to do so.

The fatal 4th flight that crashed in Pennsylvania on Sep 11 had mobile phones in use. I wouldn't have thought that you could get reception in the air. Is the use of mobile phones common practice in the US. Are these mobile phones not the same as our cell phones so wouldn't they cause interference to aircraft anyway.
 
I also always turn my phone off, but even after the FA's tell everyone to turn their phones off you can hear peoples phones ringing in the lockers on take off and/or landing.
 
Reggie said:
I also always turn my phone off, but even after the FA's tell everyone to turn their phones off you can hear peoples phones ringing in the lockers on take off and/or landing.
I once found out the hard way that the Alarm on some 'phones will fire up even if the mobile is turned off. :oops: :oops: :oops: :| :shock:
 
serfty said:
I once found out the hard way that the Alarm on some 'phones will fire up even if the mobile is turned off. :oops: :oops: :oops: :| :shock:

Yah, very embarrasing for me once on a plane :)

Quickly switched off and remembered for next time! It's amazing how quickly you can remove a battery from a phone when you need to!

Although, for my particular phone I'm not sure if it actually starts transmitting when switched on for an alarm, or it's only a radio-free switched on mode.
 
I always turn mine off - actually as it is a PPC, I switch it to Flight Mode.

I've often wondered why they also ask pax to turn off other devices such as iPods and GameBoys. These devices generally do not transmit wirelessly at all. The newest Gameboy DS does have wireless capability, so maybe they just take a blanket approach?
 
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Yada Yada,
It is a blanket approach - their concern being anything with a local oscillator (i.e anything with a microcontroller/processor such as iPods, Gameboys) that can generate unintended (allbeit very weak)emissions that can cause interference.

Interestingly, even a basic AM or FM radio which has no intention to transmit anything, still uses a local oscillator to lock onto the station you want to listen to, and accordingly are prohibited for use on aircraft.

So there is some basis to the "switch everything off" policy, but it would be good to see some scientific evidence as to whether these items really do pose any risk.
 
serfty said:
I once found out the hard way that the Alarm on some 'phones will fire up even if the mobile is turned off. :oops: :oops: :oops: :| :shock:

Oops, I'll make sure I remember that, dont need some angry FA making one of my longhauls hell.
 
sambo said:
Yada Yada,
It is a blanket approach - their concern being anything with a local oscillator (i.e anything with a microcontroller/processor such as iPods, Gameboys) that can generate unintended (allbeit very weak)emissions that can cause interference.

Interestingly, even a basic AM or FM radio which has no intention to transmit anything, still uses a local oscillator to lock onto the station you want to listen to, and accordingly are prohibited for use on aircraft.

So there is some basis to the "switch everything off" policy, but it would be good to see some scientific evidence as to whether these items really do pose any risk.

Does that mean I can listen to my iRiver (once levelled out) but not activate the radio part of it? Only playback music? :shock: Whoops
 
oz_mark said:
I was once on a flight and after landing in Melbourne and turning onto the taxiway a rather irritated captain came on complaining about the person that had their phone on in the final stages of descent/landing. I guess it caused some sort of interference up front.

I am appalled that somebody admits to complete disregard for the law in this matter.

I just got off QF71 Per-Sin. Just after takeoff when the FA's start to move around, they came around to everyone in J asking them to check their mobiles as someones was on and the captain said it was interferring with the operation of the plane.

Anyway sure enough it was somone in row 1, they were made to turn it off, apparently no more problems.
 
I was once on a British Airways flight and had genuinely forgotten to switch my phone off. It started ringing in the overhead compartment just before we pushed back and a very irate flight attendant gave me a ticking off.

Once we had landed and I picked up the message that had been left I found that the call and message were from British Airways who had been trying to reach me .. .. ..

vaccav
 
Within the aviation community there are many stories about how mobiles can or may affect an a/c performance. This varies between upsetting the GPS or other navigation instruments, to upsetting flight displays or even setting off engine fire warning systems. Whilst not all of these can be authenticated, a lot have been.

As an example the early Blackhawk helicopters suffered from loss of control problems when flying near certain high power transmitters. This of course has been rectified however what is the next gotcha that we dn't know about :?:

If in doubt then it's better to be cautious. Also comes back to the other thread about flying as one of the few times we are free of the mobile phone menace :!:
 
To bring in a topic from another thread I would suggest that the one person who admits to never turning off their mobile phone would be also be one of those annoying people that reclines as soon as the plane leaves the ground on a short flight to Sydney.
 
flyer4703 said:
To bring in a topic from another thread I would suggest that the one person who admits to never turning off their mobile phone would be also be one of those annoying people that reclines as soon as the plane leaves the ground on a short flight to Sydney.

:roll: :D :shock: :evil: :twisted:
 
straitman said:
flyer4703 said:
To bring in a topic from another thread I would suggest that the one person who admits to never turning off their mobile phone would be also be one of those annoying people that reclines as soon as the plane leaves the ground on a short flight to Sydney.

:roll: :D :shock: :evil: :twisted:

and maybe they have big heavy carryon luggage.

Actually I think some of the problem is that due to the good safety records of airlines here, many people have become quite complacent about the dangers inherent in flying, and also don;t think that rules are for them

ALl of these rules have a sound basis in providing for a safe flying experience for the general public, and people should respect the rules and obey them.
 
flyer4703 said:
To bring in a topic from another thread I would suggest that the one person who admits to never turning off their mobile phone would be also be one of those annoying people that reclines as soon as the plane leaves the ground on a short flight to Sydney.
ROFL! :D
 
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