Ok so here’s the actual reason:
It has nothing to do with the plane, if phones had even a slight chance of making a plane crash they would not allow phones onboard.
It has to do with cell towers, when a phone can’t connect it keeps raising the antenna power to increase its range and try to get to a tower this is not a problem on foot as when it does find a tower it is far enough that it works as intended. Now when you are flying a 600mph and you blast a cell tower at maximun power you degrade the signal for everyone else that cellphone tower is connected to.
That actually makes all the sense as to why a phone dies 10x quicker when it has no service
There’s a slight potential for all of those phones at max power to have an effect on the airplane’s avionics. It’s very unlikely, but they use an abundance of caution due to the potentially fatal outcome. What you described is true, but it’s not the only reason.
Also 100 people with phones that trying to get a connection at max signal strength can interfere with plane communication.
The rules are entirely arbitrary, and have no basis in science. I have been told to turn off a GPS receiver that ran on two AA batteries for 12 hours. There is no possible way that you could affect the planes electronics with the power of two AA batteries. Especially not with electronics designed to be quiet enough not to interfere with the extremely weak GPS signals it must listen to. The electronics on a plane must be horribly designed if they can be affected by any hand held electronic device.
From an IT standpoint, I think a single device obviously can’t cause any issues. No single phone or sig al emitter could, unless specifically designed for it. Now the next I don’t have as much confidence in, but I bet if even half or more use items, same deal. No big issue. If everyone at once decides or coincidentally all cause high emmisons, maybe that would be an issue.
However, how to you get everyone to understand that? You can’t say most should do it, or ask half to do it. Too many would assume others should do it instead of themselves. Bystander effect etc. If you instead have attendants choose, how to be fair and not piss people off? If it really is a low chance but something you may possibly be sued for, also why do so?
Smartest thing for a large company to do is just ban it outright. It might only have a 5% chance of failure if and only if a passengers use their phones incessantly, and it would still be safer to just ban it outright.
While the interference from one mobile device might be negligible, the combined interference from several devices could potentially disrupt the airplane’s communication and navigation systems. This is more of a concern during critical phases of flight, like takeoff and landing. Notice I said potentially. It is unlikely to occur, but since 70+% of all aviation accidents occur during takeoff and landing, they use an abundance of caution.
Is there any evidence of this ever actually happening?
I really hope to not be part of that statistic you’re begging for to find out and I hope that shouldn’t be necessary to argue with an airline. I’m happy to just switch to airplane mode and get on with life as a living person. It’s literally just a button on your phone. And it’s just courtesy. Maybe you’re addicted to the internet and have social issues when it comes to basic courtesy so maybe find help for that.
Oh fuck off.
No. You go if you don’t like it.
I concur.
Fuck all the way off.
Sanctimonious prick.
Come on dude, you were being kidnapped and they didn’t want you to know where you were being taken. After it was reported that you had been told to turn off the GPS receiver they realized you knew what was up so they aborted the mission and they’re waiting for their next opportunity. It was a breakdown in operations which they had to hastily recover from. Theirs no way you don’t know what’s going on and keep accidentally thwarting these operations.
What? I thought airplane mode was so that you can fly the plane and give the pilots a break.
I’ve been holding my phone perfectly still in coach the entire time. Why didn’t anyone tell me?
Just turn on airplane mode and ride your phone to safety
Autopilot won’t be functional at this point though so when you switch on Airplane mode, also enable the manual flight control option so you can get the plane stable again.
Also, jump at the last second to dampen impact.
When I was a kid, I used to think I could survive an elevator accident by doing this.
What’s the actual reason for this? I can’t imagine that phones fighting for non-existing wifi to make a difference to the airplane’s communications on on a different band.
I’ve heard it’s because the plane is moving so fast when taking off and landing that the phones will ping many different cell towers in rapid succession and that can wreak havoc on the network. It also makes your battery drain faster as it struggles to find a stable cell connection.
ETA: this comment explains it better: https://lemmy.world/comment/3968181
That actually was the case about 20 years ago, but nowadays it’s not really a problem anymore
I’ll add my hearsay to everyone else’s - whilst no reasonable piece of consumer electronics actually poses this risk, it’s theoretically possible that a particularly recklessly designed device could. The airlines need some sort of assurance for liability/insurance reasons, and rather than submit every electronics manufacturer to get every device tested and accredited, they came up with ‘airplane mode’ as a compromise.
I’ve read it’s to reduce distractions while the flight attendants give instructions to the passengers.
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Whoopsy Poopsies! Welp time for some lithobreaking!
Interesting that both lithobreaking and lithobraking work.
Haha you’re right lol
