Important Notice: Our web hosting provider recently started charging us for additional visits, which was unexpected. In response, we're seeking donations. Depending on the situation, we may explore different monetization options for our Community and Expert Contributors. It's crucial to provide more returns for their expertise and offer more Expert Validated Answers or AI Validated Answers. Learn more about our hosting issue here.

Is it really dangerous if you leave your phone on when flying?

AviationAviation
0
Anonymous Posted

Is it really dangerous if you leave your phone on when flying?

0

It’s very unlikely that it could be dangerous to leave your phone on while flying. The FAA can’t guarantee that any electronics on an aircraft are completely safe unless they test them. They can’t (won’t) test every single mobile phone on the market, so they just make a blanket statement that they don’t know for sure that it’s safe to leave it on. But let’s be honest, there are probably dozens of phones left on on every flight and 100,000 flights a day worldwide. If a cell phone were going to cause a problem, it would have happened already.

A different problem is that a mobile phone at altitude (let’s say around 5000 feet, because you lose the cell signal around 8000 feet) can see many more cell towers at one time than it can from the ground. The speed the phones are moving in an airplane causes trouble too. The towers are designed to make handoffs at car speeds (50 mph) not airplane speeds (500 mph). Plus there could be hundreds on phones on one plane as it moves through the cell tower’s area. All these factors combine to cause problems for the cell tower and provide poor coverage for the people on the ground, so the mobile carriers prefer that phones be off on the plane.

The only real danger of a mobile phone on an airplane is the lithium battery catching on fire. In case you haven’t heard about the recent problems with the Galaxy Note 7, read this: https://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=86685

Finally, the best reason to turn off your phone in flight is to save your battery. It is a huge battery waste for the phone to be constantly searching for a cell tower (that it can’t find because the cell tower antennae are not pointed up). And then when you land, you won’t be able to use your Über app to get a ride home.

 

0
Atef Tolba

As a pilot , I can safely say this it’s not dangerous to use your phone while flying. 

Thanksgiving questions

*Sadly, we had to bring back ads too. Hopefully more targeted.