Why Must I Turn Off My Cell Phone Once I Get on the Plane?
You may have wondered why the use of cellular telephones is not permitted in the cabin of the plane. There are very good reasons for this.
Modern aircraft depend greatly on radio waves to carry out many functions, including communication with the control tower, navigation, and even control of the atmosphere within the cabin. Radio wave interference from cell phones seriously disrupts these functions.
How bad is this disruption? Between March 1996 and February 2002, the British Civil Aviation Authority recorded no less than 35 air safety incidents related to the use of cell phones. NASA has analyzed 118 cases related to the use of personal electronic devices in aircraft. The NASA
report, released in June 2001, concluded that 25 of these cases were strongly correlated with the use of cell phones, and 16 of these were critical cases.
You may not realize that even when it is on standby, your phone is still emitting electromagnetic signals. These signals serve to notify your cell phone network that the phone is active and can be contacted. These signals get stronger when the transmitter at a base terminal station (BTS) communicates with your phone to send you a call or a text message (SMS).
In fact, once the plane has taken off and is approaching cruising attitude, your cell phone will not work. First, the distance between the BTS and the aircraft is too great. Second, the plane moves so fast that before the phone is detected and registered by a cell in the network, it has already left that cell. But even though you cannot be contacted, if you leave your phone on “active” it continues to emit electromagnetic signals that could seriously disrupt various types of flight control equipment.
This is why, although no nation has yet passed a law that would impose prison sentences on passengers who insist on using their phones while in the aircraft, you must turn off your phone as soon as you enter the cabin. If your cell phone is in your hand-carry luggage, please check and make sure the phone is off. Isn’t it better to be careful, rather than risking the lives of hundreds of passengers,including yourself?
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