Archive > Real-world aviation

Cellphones onboard?

(1/3) > >>

EHM-1671 Ben:
In the newspaper this morning there was an article that caught my attention:


--- Quote ---Three passengers on an Alitalia airline flight from Milan, Italy, were arrested fter they failed to heed requests to turn off their mobile phones.

The Alitalia captain, who had already asked three times for passengers to switch off their mobiles, aborted take-off at the last minute because he noticed interference with the plane's navigation instruments, Italian newspapers reported yesterday.

Police boarded the plane at Milan-Linas airport and arrested the three offending passengers identified by the flight crew.

The three face prosecution for failing to observe safety regulations and are liable to up to three months in jail.

The plane was finally able to take off for Bari an hour and a half later yesterday morning
--- End quote ---


I didn't know cellphones were such a danger on board aircraft...

EHM-1944 Jaap:
Being a radioamateur I have to be very careful not to cause interference in the electronic equipment of my neighbours.
Same problem
Cheers,
Jaap

EHM-2155 Mariano:
I thought they didnt make much interference... at least they didnt in MythBusters xD
nowadays cell phones dont iradiate much energy cos of concerns that it might be harmful, seems almost impossible to harm a modern airliner's navigation system with that :S

EHM-0654 Murray:
Well, Mythbusters only proved that for modern, well shielded aircraft, mobiles aren't a problem (nor for aircraft that use proper gauges).

For the older glass cockpit aircraft it's possible that mobiles could cause some interference, but I wouldn't have thought it'd be that great.

If I had to guess, I'd say it was the constant "dit-dit-dit" mobile polling noise in their headphones that the flight crew noticed and were whining about.

EHM-2097 Andrei:
I have seen too that episode of the Mythbusters but I think they tested on a rather basic aircraft.

Normally, the more systems an aircraft has and the more complex these are, the probablility increases that radio waves "find" some metal loop somewhere to trigger an electric impulse.

Moreover, the more an aircraft depends on electronics (like in "fly by wire"), the more vulnerable it is for such a parasite electric impulse.

By the other hand, the overall probability of such a mishap is certainly low, otherwise cellphones would be simply banned (like so many other objects in these days). Could you imagine a hijacker go to the cockpit with his cellphone and anounce "Divert to NOW ... or I call my mom" ?

And still, while travelling myself, when i see people who distregard the cellphone announcement, the thought that THEY take even 0.000....1% chances to hve ME torn to pieces because of THEIR calls does not feel good. So I won't blame those italian pilots for taking action.

Andrei

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page