Why do why have to turn on airplane mode when in flight, what happens if we don’t.
In: Technology
Your battery will die faster because it’ll be constantly looking for a signal. Nothing else, the whole “interference to air traffic control” is a lie or we would’ve had more notice on the 9/11 attacks… The whole point of airplane mode is to keep 100+ people who are all crammed into a small space together from talking on their phones. How annoying and aggravating that would be…
Nothing happens if you don’t. As to why? Because when mobiles phones first started gaining wide adoption airlines didn’t know if the emissions from the phone would interfere with aircraft systems. So to eliminate any potential liability they may have faced in the event of an accident that may have been in any way tied to mobile phone use and interference with aircraft systems, they decided to forbid their use during flight. In other words, it was a way to limit their potential liability. There are probably other reasons as well, like folks paying attention to a phone aren’t paying attention to commands/instructions from the flight crew.
Your phone, when not in airplane mode, gives off electromagnetic signals that can interfere with the planes equipment and cell towers on the ground. This is why it’s a federal aviation regulation to have your phone in airplane mode during a flight. I talked with a pilot about this once and he said that while putting your phone in airplane mode is important for older planes and not so much for newer ones, it’s still a good idea to turn the mode on so you don’t get fined or yelled at by a flight attendant.
The theory has always been that the signals received by phones and similar devices may interfere with navigation and communications equipment on the plane, thus leading to technical issues. I say theory because there are a lot of airlines moving away from that policy now and allowing internet use while in flight.
Rule 7
This must be some stupid reason. If there would be a chance for a technical issue or a crash this would be the most used way of terror attacks. Put 10 guys in a plane and use spotify…. Boom. But that never happend anywhere. And I am allowed to carry a phone on planes (also I ignored putting it on flight mode and nothing happened) So this is a way to minimize a non existent risk. Edit:typo
It could interfere with the flight instruments, radio communications etc. Whether it actually would have an affect in today’s airplanes (and modern phones) could be debatable.
Imagine hundreds of phones “screaming” as loud as they can (try to transmit at full power) because they have lost contact to the cell towers, that could cause some electromagnetic interference.
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