You Don’t Need to Use Airplane Mode on Airplanes | Airplane mode hasn’t been necessary for nearly 20 years, but the myth persists.::Airplane mode hasn’t been necessary for nearly 20 years, but the myth persists.
You should still set airplane mode when airborne for other reasons besides interference with the aircraft. For one, you’ll save your battery. It takes a lot of “juice” for your device to search for cell towers that are likely out of reach. You may also want to avoid connecting to a tower outside where you have coverage. E.g. for a flight from Anchorage to Minneapolis, maybe you don’t want to connect to Canadian cell towers and potentially receive charges in another country. Obviously this depends on your plan limits. But, yeah, it’s not really about protecting the airplane, in most cases
Here is a video from TED-Ed that explains why. TLDR: phones looking for a signal broadcast on high power, but planes move so fast that you can end up right next to a cell tower so the high power signal can interfere with other phones trying to communicate.
I disagree with how he phrases a few things, but I think it’s mostly accurate.
I thought another reason was to avoid blasting everyone you pass with your phone’s maximum power signal while trying to reconnect.
Microwave radiation from phones doesn’t pose any danger. The amount of energy that’s transmitted is completely negligible.
Cell phone radiation is negligible
It’s not only the myth, is the airplane crew reminding you of that every single flight. Both on takeoff and landing.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted a study in 2012 that found nearly zero conclusive instances of aircraft disturbances from cell phone usage.
Now keep in mind, federal law requires you to follow the aircraft crew’s instructions, which includes turning on airplane mode.
In 2013, the FCC got a new chairman, Tom Wheeler, who wanted to shake things up by enabling phone calls and data usage on flights.
“Allowing cellphones on planes sounds like the premise of a new reality show: ‘Cage Fighting at 30,000 Feet,’ ” said Oregon Rep. Greg Walden to the Washington Post at the time.
However, regulators and airlines pressured the FCC into keeping the rule in place, out of fear that in-flight phone calls would create chaos in the sky.
Nowadays, you can get wifi on almost any flight for a small fee, allowing you to make voice calls, surf the internet, and play video games.
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Back in the day airlines would charge you a premium to call from the plane.
300+ cellphones suddenly hogging an antenna as they roam by may be inconvenient for the carrier. Can you actully get reception up so high even?
If cellphones really did interfere with airplanes, there would’ve been a lot of crashes because of it, there’s always a smart ass.
Airplane mode is still useful for lots of other things. I’d be pretty upset if the feature was removed.
If airplane mode really mattered they wouldn’t let you even have a device
The idea that plane safety is tied to everyone together agreeing to and remembering to push a button on their devices is absolutely insane. You think that the regulating bodies that require multiple backups for every possible system also just trust that every passenger pushes a button and every flight attendant actually checks every passengers devices?
No I don’t think that. What words in my comment make you think I think that
I think they were agreeing and meant “You” rhetorically.
I use it ho properly disconnect from mobile network, if something not working with it on iPhone, disabling and enable mobile network did not do the trick, don’t know exactly why.
I use it ho properly disconnect from mobile network, if something not working with it on iPhone, disabling and enable mobile network did not do the trick, don’t know exactly why.
Because the cellular tower icon disables mobile data, but not the radios. You can tell because when you turn it off you’ll still see bars (if, you know, the radio is working).
Airplane mode on iOS disables cellular radios, but leaves WiFi and Bluetooth on. Your phone will sit there blazing (figuratively) as bright as the sun in its cellular radio spectrums trying to hit a tower when you’re 35,000 feet up, eating up your battery and potentially fucking with cell towers as you fly overhead, where WiFi and Bluetooth won’t. It also prevents potential interference from the 2G radio with the ILS the plane uses for landing (as I saw elsewhere from a pilot).
Nice 😄💪🏻
How hard is it for someone to go without their damn phone for a flight. Probably can’t connect to towers anyways when you’re up in the air. That business deal or meeting can wait. For once in your life just do what someone else asks of you before taking off and stop bitching. Or drive or take a train.
