Cell Phones on Airplanes
Cell phones are perfectly safe on airplanes. So why can't we use them?
Filed under Urban Legends
| Skeptoid #14 December 15, 2006 Podcast transcript | Listen | Subscribe Also available in Japanese |
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By Brian Dunning, Skeptoid Podcast
Episode
14 , December 15, 2006
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/
4014
Today we're going to fly up to 40,000 feet, flip open our cell phone, and call the Twilight Zone to tell them we're doing something that's supposed to be deadly dangerous.
I love Mythbusters and it's my whole family's favorite show, but with their episode on the cell phone ban aboard aircraft, they did a disservice to those of us who hope to get this groundless ban dropped. In case you missed it, they did a test and concluded that cell phones can potentially interfere with an aircraft's navigation system. The only instrument they tested was a radio direction finder called a VOR, which detects a radio beam coming from a ground station and points its direction. In practice, VOR is on its way out, in favor of GPS. VOR stations are each assigned a unique frequency in the VHF range between 108 MHz and 117.95 MHz, which is right above the FM radio frequency range. By contrast, the lowest frequency used by any US mobile telephones is 700 MHz; and in European mobile telephones, 450 MHz. Since the frequencies are so incredibly different, the whole debate is ended right there, for all practical purposes. Mythbusters used an older VOR receiver that could be tuned to receive a much broader range of frequencies, which is why they were able to detect the mobile phone signal. To be more responsible, they should have admitted that this frequency was wildly different than what any aircraft might possibly tune to. As it was, they left viewers with an inaccurate, and alarmist, impression. Mythbusters called the myth "plausible". No, it's really not plausible; a cell phone cannot affect an aircraft's navigation instruments in the real world, and we'll have more on that in a moment. Maybe if you threw a cell phone really hard at the GPS, you could break something.
So this raises an obvious question: why aren't cell phone calls allowed on airplanes, if there's no harm in it? The real reason has nothing to do with the FAA; it comes from the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission. It has nothing whatsoever to do with safety or security. When you're seven or eight miles up in the air, your phone can hit any of hundreds of cell towers, and there is supposition that this could cause a problem. As we know from 9/11, cell phones work fine from the air, but nevertheless the FCC has enacted a law making it illegal to operate a cell phone in a commercial plane that's not touching the ground. I've used mine from general aviation aircraft on a number of occasions and never had a problem either. A non-profit called RTCA is the Federal Advisory Committee for the FAA, and their report finding that cell phones pose no risk to aircraft safety is detailed in their report DO-235A, Assessment of Radio Frequency Interference Relevant to the GNSS. The only law that the FAA has is in support of the FCC law.
Boeing and Airbus routinely bombard their aircraft to harden them against every conceivable type of attack, physical and electronic, certainly including cell phone signals. If cell phones had the potential to endanger an aircraft, you'd be allowed to bring them on board in the same way as you bring dynamite on board. Meaning, not at all.
All other devices that you're not allowed to use during takeoff and landing (PDA's, video games, iPods, laptops), are not restricted by either the FAA or the FCC. You'll find the authority for this in RTCA document DO-233, Portable Electronic Devices Carried on Board Aircraft. These rules are arbitrary and are invented by the airlines, without any legal authority. It is their plane and they're within their rights to make whatever rules they want, but travelers should know that there are no laws against using these devices at any time, and that the research has been conducted and the devices have been demonstrated to be safe. Feel free to put this on the comment card next time you fly.
When you listen to the flight attendants explain the rules, it's clear that their training includes a simple mention that portable electronics and cell phones represent a danger. The trainers probably believe it and the flight attendants have no reason to question what they've been told. If you've ever wondered how your 1.5 volt LCD Palm Pilot could be so dangerous, you were on the right track. When you hear something that sounds far fetched, be skeptical.
So what's the deal? Are Men in Black secretly going from airline boardroom to boardroom, handing out corporate welfare payments in exchange for the promise to support the government's evil plan to convince us all that we're on the brink of destruction? Are there paranoid, over-cautious, or ignorant policymakers in charge at all the airlines? Personally both of those are a little too conspiracy theory for my taste, but I also think there might be a small element of truth in each.
Take the example of the terrorist train bombing in Madrid in March of 2004. The bombs were set off by cell phone calls, since cell phones are easy to get and are reliable. One reaction, which thankfully has not been put in place so far that I've seen, was the immediate proposal to jam cell phone signals anywhere that was bombable. Airports, national monuments, stadiums, train stations. Was this a logical reaction? No. If the bombers couldn't have used cell phones they would have used walkie talkies from Radio Shack. If they couldn't have used those they would have used mechanical wind-up clocks attached to detonators. If they couldn't have used those, they would have used slow burning fuses. There are a million ways to set off a bomb and no law can prevent it from happening. Any reasonable person understands this. Unfortunately, our politically correct, alarmist, liability hysterical culture demands that government do something. The culture doesn't know or care whether it's logical, or makes any difference. Our culture sleeps better knowing that Big Brother is babysitting. Satisfy the public's emotions, and you have a happy population. I guarantee you that Osama bin Laden is not rending his garments in despair over all his plans being ruined, now that Americans aren't allowed to bring a bottle of water on board a plane. It's a useless and inconvenient law, but it shows that government cares, and our culture is willing to be walked all over and curtailed in any way necessary to feel protected.
I think the cell phone ban on airplanes is just another example of this. Big Brother has cultivated and nourished a supposed danger, and leveraged it into another opportunity to babysit. Now I promise you that I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and I'm not some paranoid anti-government guy who thinks the government is out to get us. But I can't think of a better explanation for the absurd inflight cell phone ban, than the one I've just given. If you can, I welcome your comments on the web site.
© 2006 Skeptoid Media, Inc.
References & Further Reading
Elgan, Mike. "Why cell phones are still grounded." Computerworld.com. Computer World, 6 Apr. 2007. Web. 14 Dec. 2009. <http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9015839/Why_cell_phones_are_still_grounded?taxonomyId=15&pageNumber=1>
Ely, J.J., Nguyen, T.X., Koppen, S.V., Salud, M.T. "Electromagnetic interference assessment of CDMA and GSM wireless phones to aircraft navigation radios." Proceedings of the 21st Digital Avionics Systems Conference. 10 Dec. 2002, Volume 2: 13E4-1- 13E4-13.
Heussner, K. "Why Can't We Use Cell Phones On Planes?" abcnews.go. ABC News Internet Ventures, 9 Feb. 2009. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. <http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/story?id=6833039&page=1>
Koski, O. "Why Can't You Use Cell Phones on Airplanes?" Scienceline. NYU Journalism, 8 Feb. 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. <http://www.scienceline.org/2010/02/why-cant-you-use-cell-phones-on-airplanes/>
RTCA Committee SC-159. Assessment of Radio Frequency Interference Relevant to the GNSS L1 Frequency Band (DO-235B). Washington: RTCA, Inc., 2008.
RTCA Committee SC-177. Portable Electronic Devices Carried on Board Aircraft (DO-233). Washington: RTCA, Inc., 1996.
Thomas, Cyndi. "FCC TERMINATES PROCEEDING ON THE USE OF CELLULAR PHONES ONBOARD AIRCRAFT." FCC News. FCC.gov, 3 Apr. 2007. Web. 14 Dec. 2009. <http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-272051A1.pdf>
Reference this article:
Dunning, Brian.
"Cell Phones on Airplanes." Skeptoid Podcast. Skeptoid Media, Inc.,
15 Dec 2006. Web.
4 Feb 2012. <http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4014>
Discuss!
5 most recent comments | Show all 114 comments
Remember, you should always read with skepticism the comments of anyone too lame to put their real name & city.
@vespine
"The last thing you need is people trying to load their luggage with one hand, or telling the crew to hold on a second while they finish up their "oh so important" phone conversation."
But that's perfectly allowable under current rules, at least in the US. You can speak on the phone until some time after you sit down, but before the doors close, I think.
serenada, Los Angeles
November 05, 2011 7:30pm
Dude! Plane trips are annoying and stressful enough as it is without morons yapping away the whole time about their meaningless, boring shit that can wait they get off. Seriously, mobiles on planes? Fuck that.
Eggrock, London
December 26, 2011 3:49pm
I know I'm REALLY late to the party on this issue, but I can shed some light on this if anyone is still reading.
Bans on the use of electronic devices on airplanes date back to an earlier era of air travel. Half a century ago, portable electronics weren't as rigorously shielded. EM interference with radio across a broad spectrum of frequencies was a concern not only from broadcasting devices such as portable radios, but from the operation of any and all electronics.
I acknowledge that due to the relatively low power consumption of portable electronics, this was probably unnecessary even then. It irritates me, however, that many people do not understand that every electrical circuit creates an electromagnetic field, which does in fact have an effect upon (and which can potentially interfere with) the operation of other electronic devices.
Today the restriction against cell phones in particular stems more from a desire to avoid having passengers on their phones for the entire flight than any real safety concerns. I recently took a 4 hour trip by train, and I can tell you that even one passenger jabbering away on their cell makes for a very unhappy few rows of other passengers.
Also, since federal legislation requires passengers to comply with the instructions of flight crews, it is in fact against the law to operate your cell when you have been instructed not to.
PS: the train conductors will ask you to put the phone away too.
Tim, California
January 04, 2012 10:56pm
Another latecomer...
Agree with people chatting on the phone would be SO annoying.
Expensive in-flight calls are a good way to punish those that do and deter most others.
It does sound like EMI fears might just be a legacy from year ago.
Also
Phones = Missiles
I saw a good doco on flight safety years ago, possibly a Horizon episode, where the flight safety expert woman was saying the best safety tip for flying is to not have any carry-on luggage (she only took a box at most) as it all lands up flying around the cabin, if things go pear-shaped, with a good chance of it hitting you on the back of your head, knocking you out or breaking your neck... (yes it'd be someone else's stuff from a few rows back... your stuff would wipe out people a few rows forward...) She, i think, probably has lots of data on this.
So, i remember one of the reasons for stowing phones/laptop/ipods/etc. is that if things do go pear-shaped during the more dangerous take-offs & landings, these little slender bricks don't then become missiles that have a good chance of hitting someone a few rows forward in the back of the head... that's gonna hurt!
And consider the poor Hosties, sitting there with their rearward faceing seats, watching all the little bricks flying towards them! (closely followed by the overweight little suitcases and litre bottles of vodka) Must be a genuine fear of theirs...
Anyhoo... there's often good stuff to look at out the window on take-off/landing!
Rich, Sussex, UK
January 12, 2012 7:26pm
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Cell phones are banned from the air primarily for the sake of the cell phone network, not for the sake of the planes: You're not allowed to use cell phones from hot air balloons. It's an issue of having direct line-of-site visibility to too many cell towers.
http://www.privateline.com/Cellbasics/AirCell.pdf
Jeff Grigg, Chicago, IL
October 15, 2011 4:33pm