Do I need to leave my phone in airplane mode? It’s a good idea
- It’s safer for everyone if you put your phone in airplane mode when you’re flying.
- Cell phone signals can interfere with some of an airplane’s crucial systems.
- 5G technology is less risky and will start to be usable on commercial flights soon.
When Gila Drazen flies, she typically forgets or otherwise neglects to put her phone in airplane mode.
“It’s laziness. It’s just plain, laziness,” she told USA TODAY.
Drazen is hardly alone. Although it’s not a well-studied question, a 2017 survey by Allianz Global Assistance found that about 40% of passengers said they left their cell service on while flying.
But Federal Aviation Administration regulations still require all passengers to use airplane mode while in the air. That’s why an announcement is made on every flight.
“FAA regulations prohibit the use of certain portable electronic devices on aircraft unless the operator determined they won’t interfere with navigation or communication systems,” the agency said in a statement.
Though changes may be coming.
European regulators recently cleared the way for 5G-enabled mobile devices to keep their transmitters on during flights, and experts say it’s likely that the U.S. will follow suit. But that doesn’t mean everyone will be able to make calls from the air tomorrow. Not all cell service is created equal when it comes to airplane safety.
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So, what is the big deal if you don’t put your phone in airplane mode today, especially with a non-5G phone?
“My theory was always that it was a crowd control thing. In the same way that when they start talking about cellphone service in the subway, we all just kind of assumed that everybody would get on the phone and just be talking talking talking,” Drazen said. “The question that I have is what my passive consumption of cellphone signal might do, you know?”
Why do I need to put my phone in airplane mode?
According to experts and the FAA, it’s a matter of safety for yourself and your fellow passengers.
Shawn Pruchnicki, a professor at the Center for Aviation Studies at The Ohio State University, said the big issue is potential interference with an airplane’s navigation systems.
“Where it really counts is upon landing, especially when we’re doing an instrument landing,” he said. “Those signals are very, very precise, and the autopilot flying those signals is also very, very precise. This is not the time when you want any variability at all, especially when you have terrain considerations.”
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As the FAA’s statement above said, in order to let passengers use their cell service onboard, operators would have to prove that the devices wouldn’t interfere with the plane’s communication or navigation systems.
“There’s no extensive testing that is done on all the different types of airplanes combined with all the different types of cellphones,” Pruchnicki said. “There’s a tremendous amount of different combinations here.”
Plus, he said, at cruising altitude, most phones aren’t powerful enough to connect to cell towers on the ground, but they…
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