Are phones on planes really so dangerous?

[coffeerevelsrule]

After flying I am wondering just how dangerous it really is to have phones not on airplane mode during the flight. As an anxious flyer I'm always struck by the fact that this is only mentioned once and not checked on. Surely it often happens that someone one board has a phone fully on? But I've never heard of an accident occurring due to it. I always have an urge to check everyone's phone is sorted and disconcerted by the casual way it is mentioned! I feel if it's not that big a deal they shouldn't mention it as it stresses me out, and if it is a big deal they should say more about it and make more of it, do spot checks with fines etc.

Did the plane have wifi?

Well some airlines have apps you use during the flight for entertainment so they wouldnt work on flight mode

They wouldnt allowed this of you cant use your phone

They do. I have flight mode turned on now but I am still connected to the internet via wifi.

The apps will probably work via the wifi.

Your phone has two, maybe three ways of connecting with the outside world (phone signal, Wifi, Bluetooth).

As far as the aviation authorities are concerned the phone signal might well be problematic, OTOH most of time wifi/bluetooth aren't considered an issue.

Flight mode kills only the phone signal, it usually leaves wifi up for use on suitably equipped aircraft.

However the authorities really don't want anything in the passenger cabin transmitting anything when the aircraft is performing an autoland in low visibility because any interference could cause real difficulties, so thats when everything that might transmit or emit anything, mobiles, ipads, tablets etc etc, usually have to go off.

According to the FAA, it can interfere with the pilot’s headset, and with screens, but largely in older planes. They don’t need to ban them, it’s not going to cause the plane to immediately nosedive. If it happens, a pilot can put a message over the tannoy for people to check their phones are off.

No.

Even in the worst weather conditions. It’s bullshit. My brother was cabin crew. It’s to stop you taking calls etc at 30,000 feet and pissing other people off! He used to have his phone on normal and he would text us all when he was on his break.

I don't think there is enough emphasis on not putting lithium batteries in the hold. Just a tick box in online check-in. Needs to be a global campaign about this.

This must have been via WiFi as I’ve forgotten to switch to flight mode and accidentally turned it off mid flight so many times and never had signal. I usually find out because my phone starts buzzing when we get to a low altitude and about to land and it reconnects.

But on some airlines you can make calls on WiFi so they aren’t doing a great job of stopping this behaviour…

It wasn’t - BA have only recently introduced WiFi on their planes.

Well speaking as an ex commercial pilot I can tell you it's not complete bullshit..at 30k you might get a signal and get a text off, it depends...

If you were sat on older aircraft whilst sending it you might also start to see the pressurisation outflow valves move in the direction you don't want them to go at altitude (Boeing actually went as far as warning that was a symptom of mobile phone use and I saw it once)

That's not so much a problem on new aircraft...

As for the "worse weather conditions" comment - you really do not want to compromise autoland performance....

I have forgotten to turn my iPad on to flight mode a few times and found loads of texts informing me of the roaming charges for the countries I have flown over, so they must pick up some signal.

Flight mode kills only the phone signal, it usually leaves wifi up for use on suitably equipped aircraft

What? That's not true at all. Try putting your mobile on airplane mode then doing a google search through your phones wifi connection!

From memory, open to correction, BA have had wifi on most of the Longhaul fleet for well over five years..(might be best part of ten) but what you got.on the day depended on the fleet and within the fleet the aircraft and/or cabin upgrade state.

I think at least some of their shorthaul fleet might have had it for, again, five years, but it was a slow patchy introduction and I think it still might not be universal.

I’m posting this in flight mode. The WiFi is working.

Try putting your phone in flight mode, then turn wifi on, and then do your Google search.

He left BA 5/6 years ago. Definitely no WiFi on the majority of their flights when he left.

Well fuck me. Sincere apologies!

No, I used to date a pilot. He rang me from the cockpit on more than one occasion.

Apologies I over simplified/missed a step.

If you go flight mode wifi will go off, but you can reselect wifi individually whilst leaving the phone element off(so wifi available, but no 4 or 5 G )

For example I'm now posting this with phone in flight mode but with wifi on, so connecting via the home wifi setup....

That used to be how it worked, and most phones even modern ones will automatically switch off wifi when placed in airplane mode, but since wifi has been fairly common on phones for a good few years now, you can usually reenable the wifi once it's in airplane mode and sometimes if you've done it once it will automatically leave it enabled for future.

Ive interviewed engineers about this - basically they’re not really dangerous but there’s a tiny chance they might interrupt the messaging between ground control and the pilots so they ask people to turn on airplane mode. This has never happened but… better safe.

Remember when they used to have big signs in hospitals saying no mobile phones as well - can you imagine this now

I can't imagine airlines would get very far if they tried to ban all phones from ever being on board. That's why phone manufacturers came up with the idea of airplane/flight mode fairly quickly once they got more complicated than the old brick phones.

OK I left BA around the same time and a very high percentage of the Longhaul fleet I was on had wifi, I suspect the 744 fleet might not have had it but can't remember..shorthaul side of things I'm pretty sure it was starting to appear on some of the shorthaul airframes around the time Covid hit.

(For info another post using wifi with phone in flight mode).

You haven’t noticed that that’s not a thing anymore? 🫤

We don’t use GSM networks these days, speaker interface no longer happens

No it was Ryanair and they were definitely whatsapping both ways as she was diagonally across the aisle from me - so I could see the messages pinging back and forth.

Would Bluetooth phone to phone have been a possibility?

ETA: Don't know about Ryanair but some airlines do allow Bluetooth to be used in flight.