Forbes Article: Electronics on Airplanes: It's the Bureaucracy, Stupid!
NY Times Article: Disruptions: Time to Review F.A.A. Policy on Gadgets
I fly a lot. On every flight, before takeoff and landing, I am required to turn off my smartphone. Airplane mode is not good enough. The phone has to be completely off. Why?
In the 1990s, most phones were analog. This required a higher powered signal to make cellular calls. When I worked on a monitored unit in the hospital, we would know when someone was using a cell phone because the EKG tracings for our patients would be disrupted. We'd make an overhead announcement asking people to turn their phones off and the EKG would start working again.
Electronic devices in general put out electromagnetic radiation that can affect sensitive equipment. To keep cell phone transmissions and electromagnetic radiation from electronic devices from affecting aircraft avionics during crucial times of the flight, the FAA ruled years ago that all cell phones and electronic devices must be fully turned off during takeoff and landing.
Today, cellular phones are digital and put out a much lower powered signal than in the old analog days. Also, manufacturers have started shielding sensitive electronic equipment against electromagnetic radiation. Electronic devices no longer pose a threat to aircraft or to hospital monitoring equipment.
It's time to review out laws and policies on this. Pilots are using iPods in the cockpit while requiring their passengers to turn off similar devices in the cabin. Hospitals still have signage prohibiting cell phone use, but seldom enforce the rule.
Our bureaucracy needs to catch up with our technology.
Informative argument since I have no reason to fly. Are they allowed to be turned on during the flight? If the pilots are using their ipods during take off and landing, that's a problem. They shouldn't need a GPS and should watch where they're going.
ReplyDeleteThey're using iPods in place of traditional pen-and-paper charting and checkoffs. Part of the job, not for fun.
DeleteSo, if I'm reading this and understading it correctly, only those with older cellular phones that still utilize analog signals would actually need to still be turned off, correct? If that is the case then, making the announcement that "those with old cell phones, using analog signal, need to turn their cell phone off now", wouldn't really get the desired result, because nobody would turn off their phone, since those who know they have digital signal wouldn't, and those who do actually have an analog signal, and DON'T know they do, wouldn't turn their's off either.
ReplyDeleteSo until ALL phones have switched to digital signal only, they are still going to have to require ALL phones to be turned off.
The digital market has made analog obsolete. Older phones don't work well on the new digital systems and are virtually extinct. I haven't seen an analog phone in use for several years. Also, modern avionics are shielded against interference. It's really not an issue, and Europe has started lifting the bans.
DeleteWell, my phone isn't that old (4 yrs), and if I'm in an area with limited signal, when sending a text I'll get a response from my phone that reads, "unable to send message, resend in digital?" So those of us who don't need (or want) to spend the extra for the data package, and upgrading phones, are choosing to hold onto our older phones, that still have - at least partial - analog technologies.
DeleteI'm guessing there is a digital setting on your phone that will allow you to function in digital all the time. Most phones still allow you to go analog for when using older towers, especially when roaming in rural areas (analog signals will usually work as far as 20-30 miles from the tower). When in analog, you are still using less power than the old analog phones. Older analog phones used as much as 1500mw. Modern models use about 500mw. Digital uses about 350mw.
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