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.

What was the point in your patronising reply then? It’s not a problem (as more qualified people than you have clearly said) yet we need to watch a TikTok of a mobile phone setting off a computer screen in 1998 to understand the impact phones on planes have? 🤨

I’ve also had this experience.

bad weather and the crew came through and asked everyone to ensure their phones were actually switched off and not just in flight mode/ on silent.

this was probably about 7/8 years ago, at the time a pilot friend said that the phones could interfere with hearing through their headsets

bad weather and the crew came through and asked everyone to ensure their phones were actually switched off and not just in flight mode/ on silent.

Depends on the airline to some degree but if you're preparing for an approach in low visibility it's pretty much standard for the crew to be extra vigilant and that may well involve an extra or slower than normal walkthrough of the cabin by the cabin crew to ensure people have all Personal Electronic Devices actually turned off.

I wouldn't assume such a walk through was down to crew knowing a device was on unless an announcement was made to that effect.

I wouldn't assume such a walk through was down to crew knowing a device was on unless an announcement was made to that effect

I don’t know that that they knew a device was on but they walked the aisle pausing at every row saying variations of “all phones need to be off, properly off, please check your phones to ensure they’re off, we need phones off for the landing”. They were very insistent and did the walk through at least twice so I assume there was some sort of interference being caused.

I’ve been on 100s of flights, several with difficult landings and never experienced anything like that before or after

Thank you for a very clear and sensible explanation. I think leaving WiFi on in airplane mode is a recentish thing and I wondered why it had changed.

It's a set of precautions specifically needed for take-offs and more typically landings in low visibilities, which usually is defined as something like vis less than 550 metres....maybe cloud below 200'..It's not a precaution needed on, for example, windy days, or very wet days so even frequent flyers can go years without being on a flight where the extra precautions and checks are needed.

...and on older planes like the Sopwith Camel and Fokker Dr.1

They said it was interfering with the instruments a they needed to land on autopilot due to low visibility. We had to keep circling until the crew had manually checked all phones after several announcements failed to resolve the issue so they must have been able to tell somehow.

Have to say based on the dreaded "lived experience" that sounds odd/highly unusual but I wasn't there so who knows...

There was certainly no magic device on the flight deck that said "phone still on"...

No idea. It just worried me

I actually work for the airline but was travelling as a commercial passenger. I've fly often and have never seen it before but that day something was different and they abandoned the landing until the phones were all physically checked. No idea of what was happening in the flight deck but something was definitely happening.

It’s happened to me too and the cabin crew walked down the aisle making everyone show them that they were switched off fully. Funnily enough we were flying into Manchester and by the time we descended through the clouds we could see Yorkshire! (Not to disparage the fact there’d been fog though, we live in Jersey and fog is the bane of all our flying).

Your average Ryanair / Jet2 flight to Europe doesn’t. None that I’ve been on anyway.

DH is a pilot and never puts his phone on airplane mode. If flying as a passenger he’ll quite happily make texts etc from the sky (there’s rather any signal though once you’re past take off/landing)

Ok thanks interesting..must have been a v rare example of what the boffins worry about..

For the sake of the nervous flyers and as we're into autumn I'll mention (again) that there definitely are extra thorough checks needed prior to autolands in low visibility (and there's also often holding FWIW, because ATC reasons)

If anyone sees a crew really emphasising phones off and checking the same it's highly probable they"re doing it as part of the routine procedures, it doesn't mean there's a problem on their flight.

We flew to Riga last month and had to land on auto pilot due to fog. The cabin crew demanded to see everyone’s phone was switched off and got quite arsey with some people. That was Ryanair.
They also yelled at people to sit down before the seatbelt sign had been switched off. Felt like we were on a school trip! 😂

Yes this. My dd used to do a lot of long haul flights and she always paid the extra to be able to use her phone

This was akin to my experience. My pilot friend says it does happen - and the pilots can tell if the phones are on as the interference continues.

I was on a plane that was delayed once and a couple of people turned their phones on and called their rellies.

Sorry guys, I know I don't have the credibility that seems to go with an influencers channel on Youtube or whatever, and I haven't got a relative whose dog knew a pilot once so you're are still going to have to take this on trust, but I'm still of the opinion that his "the pilots can tell phones are on" isn't a universal truth.

Once upon a time, (flying back end of the 20th century), possibly..clicks, buzzes over flight deck headsets on rare occasions.

21st century nope...newer phones,.modern avionics, etc..don't hear it any more so up front, generally you haven't a clue.

I'm certainly not naive enough to believe that in 20 plus years I flew post 2000AD not one of the umpteen tens of thousands of passengers I was responsible for didn't have their phone on in flight.

On the basis you should never say never I'm happy to accept there may well be the odd very rare occasion where someones phone is so badly knackered that for some reason it's interfering with the headsets up front but based on my experiences it's vanishingly rare.

BTW at this stage I have to fess up to once having left my phone on accidently on when I put it in my briefcase on the flight deck at the start of a Longhaul flight from Europe to the Far East..

No clangs, sirens or warning bells or messages on the flight deck displays, no buzzes or noises in headsets...but when I picked the phone up at the end of flight the battery was almost flat and it was still displaying a message along the lines of 'welcome to Azerbaijan Telecom"...😱

Youtube or whatever, and I haven't got a relative whose dog knew a pilot once so you're are still going to have to take this on trust, but I'm still of the opinion that his "the pilots can tell phones are on" isn't a universal truth

why so tediously patronising @notimagain?

no one is claiming that it is a “universal truth”. Far from it. A few of posters - me included - are saying we have had an experience where it was clear that the pilots did know. This would accord with your own posts that on some planes, in some circumstances interference is possible.

And whilst I have no doubt I’ve flown far less miles than a very experienced pilot like you, BA flight path tells me I’ve clocked up 1.2m miles with them alone.

And I’ve had this experience once, despite multiple difficult/failed landings. So no claims of “universality” here 🤷‍♀️

Well, they told you they knew, at least.

this thread does reveal how authoritative people view cabin staff as which can only be a good thing

I'd still question they "did know", as in for certain, but just to be clear the comment about influencers etc wasn't aimed at yourself and I'm not trying to argue with you, honest

The very obvious frustration I have with some of this debate is it appears to be that despite seemingly amicably resolving what might have happened on one occasion not long afterwards someone pops up here with a comment, perhaps having not RTFT or not registered/believed what's written, that sets the hamster wheel rolling again....and off we go again.

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