“At this time your portable electronic devices must be set to ‘airplane’ mode or switched
off.” Anyone who has ever traveled by plane has heard this phrase before. This seemingly
simple command leaves us with the questions “Why?” and “What will happen if I don’t?”
Some of us, particularly the brave and rebellious types, choose to leave our gadgets on because
we just don’t understand how our small smartphone can interfere with the operation of a huge
jumbo jet. We at Bright Side have decided to answer frequent
traveler questions regarding gadgets on airplanes. So, why do we have to turn off our phones
for takeoff and landing? Get ready to find out the answer to this inquiry and many others.
Then, click the “thumbs up”, fasten your seat belt and let’s go. You can even leave
your electronic devices on at this time!
6. What is flight mode for? Flight mode is more than a pretty airplane
icon on your smartphone screen. In flight mode, your gadget disables all data services
(Wi-Fi, GSM, Bluetooth, etc.). Simply put, your phone or tablet stops functioning as
a radio receiver. If your smartphone has not been switched to flight mode, then the signals
emanating from it may interfere with the highly-sensitive electronic equipment on the aircraft.
5. What if I just don’t use my phone? When a smartphone is just locked and you’re
not using it, it is still searching for a network, and its frequency may overlap with
the frequency of the aircraft’s systems. Even if you think a "sleeping" gadget doesn’t
pose a threat, switch it to flight mode anyway. If your device happens to lack this function,
just turn it off.
4. Why is my phone activity dangerous? As you know, takeoff and landing are the most
difficult and crucial stages of the flight when pilots need to coordinate their actions
with ground control. All this is done using the aircraft’s navigation system. Think
about it: if your cell phone signal is strong enough to travel long distances, then it can
definitely cause interference with an airplane’s radio communications, and the pilot will not
hear information transmitted by the air traffic controller. It can also meddle with the navigation
and flight-control equipment. All this might lead to an emergency situation, and we don’t
want that, right? Planes are scary enough even when everything is going smoothly. Imagine
if something really goes wrong! Pilots can avoid disaster, but not the panic on board.
It’s not just your phone sending out strong signals. Laptops, Kindles, iPods and gaming
consoles do it too. If something is wrong with any of your gadgets that causes them
to emit even stronger radio waves than they normally do, the threat is even bigger.
If there’s more than one disobedient passenger on board, the signals from their gadgets combine
and obviously get even more intense.
3. What will really happen if I leave my phone on?
It sounds pretty scary that a cellphone can interfere with an airplane’s radio communication
and cause a horrible tragedy, but how likely is it in reality? What will happen if I just
ignore the instructions and leave my phone on? Well, chances are you’ll be kicked off
the flight.
This exact thing happened to Alec Baldwin, who was so into playing his favorite online
game on his smartphone that he wouldn’t agree to turn it off. As a result, he was
kicked off a flight from LA to New York. See? Even the celebs aren’t immune to the rules!
Maybe he found another way to travel 2 ½ thousand miles within 5 hours that didn’t
require temporarily putting down his beloved “Words With Friends” game? Probably not!
Of course, not every rebellious passenger is caught red-handed and punished. Public
Radio International asked people to confess their travel secrets, and it turns out that
4 out of 10 passengers in the US ignore the warnings and leave their gadgets on while
soaring through the clouds.
Fortunately, no plane crash in history has ever been a result of an active smartphone
on board. However, the causes of such tragedies often remain a mystery.
In January 2017 NASA published a report on “Passenger Electronic Devices”. Every
year, crew members anonymously contribute information to the US Aviation Safety Reporting
System, and according to their reports, there were at least 50 cases of electronic devices
causing safety problems on board. One of these safety problems was an error in the navigation
equipment that caused a 30-degree deviation in an airplane, which might not sound like
a lot, but for an airplane, it’s a serious problem. The problem was fixed when a passenger
onboard the plane finally turned off his portable DVD player, but when he switched the player
back on, the same issue arose again! There are other similar situations described in
the report, none of which sound like any fun at all!
2. Then what electronic devices can I use on a plane?
• Throughout the flight, you can use any devices that don’t exchange data through
GSM, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth. For instance, electronic watches (but not smartwatches), cameras, video
cameras, voice recorders, hearing aids, pacemakers, etc. Yes, you can even take pictures and videos
on your phone given that it’s on airplane mode and the airline doesn’t have its own
policy that forbids it. They’ll definitely let you know if that’s the case.
• Devices with this data exchange function may also be used at all stages of the flight,
but only on flight mode. These include smartphones and smartwatches, tablets, e-books, digital
audio/video players, etc. You can also use a laptop, but if it doesn’t have a flight
mode option, turning off the Wi-Fi works just as well.
• You may turn off airplane mode only when the aircraft is inflight (usually a few minutes
after takeoff) and only after a message from the flight crew tells you that you can. But
then again, you won’t be able to do much with your data when you’re thousands of
feet from the ground, right?
Please remember that these rules can change depending on the airline. It’s a good idea
to check the official website before your flight. It’ll save you some trouble later
on. You don’t want to be fighting with the cabin crew just so you can read the electronic
version of The Great Gatsby, do you?
1. How am I supposed to occupy myself during the flight?
If you can’t live without the Internet (or at least you think can’t), there’s a solution
for you kindly provided by many airlines today. In-flight Wi-Fi doesn’t use cell towers
to bring the world to you. It’s satellite-based and therefore safe for the airplane’s external
communications. It gives you access to your email, social media and messengers. You can
also surf the Net to keep up-to-date on the latest news. You can’t text since it’s
Wi-Fi only, but who really texts these days anyway?
One thing you should remember, though, is that it’s not free. Prices vary depending
on the airline and the device, but $10 is normally enough to keep yourself on the grid
during a flight if you prefer to pay for just one trip. You can also get a 24-hour or even
an annual pass.
Good news for us! Airlines are now competing to provide the fastest and best in-flight
Wi-Fi. Australian airline Qantas, for example, offers its passengers a connection strong
enough to stream Netflix on board.
And, of course, free Wi-Fi will be waiting for you as you arrive safely to your destination.
How to stay safe on one of those public networks is the topic of another one of our videos.
Here’s the link to it.
To sum it all up: while a couple of working phones won’t crash a plane, a cabin full
of passengers actively using their gadgets will interfere with the safety of the flight.
Let’s appreciate the work of others and not create unnecessary difficulties for pilots.
After all, it only takes a second to put your phone on flight mode. So sit back, relax and
enjoy the flight!
If you liked this video, let us know by hitting the “thumbs up” button. If it gets 300,000
“likes”, we’ll post more videos answering the most important questions of all travelers.
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to always look on the Bright Side of life!