At this point, it seems that the ban on using cell phones during a flight has always been with us, but it is not so long ago. It was in 1991 when the Federal Communications Commission of the United States began to regulate the use of mobile phones on airplanes due to concerns about possible interference with navigation and communication equipment. That year it banned its use in flight, other countries followed its example and the norm was already a commercial aviation standard by the middle of that decade.
Over time, the complete ban was relaxed and passengers are now asked to keep their cell phones. off during takeoff and landing phases and in airplane mode during the rest of the flight. Currently, some airlines offer the possibility of connecting wirelessly to an internal Wi-Fi network provided by the flight, although the prohibition of doing so with mobile networks remains.
The airplane mode of the beginning of the century
The ‘airplane mode’ of mobile phones did not exist in the 90s, although it would reach some models, under the name ‘flight mode’before the emergence of smartphones in the second half of the 2000s. With these the well-known ‘airplane mode’ was standardized.
The question that many may have asked is, how is it that after more than 3 decades using mobile phones on a regular basis, airplanes continue to being so sensitive to the activity of these small devices?
Answer this question clearly an American pilot with a video that has gone viral on the TikTok platform and has accumulated nearly 1 million views in recent days. ‘The airplane mode button on your phone is not a conspiracy,’ says the pilot from the @perchpoint account on TikTok. ‘It won’t make the plane fall out of the sky’ nor really ‘will interfere with onboard systems’as the authorities have always assured.
@perchpoint The more ya know, yanno? #fyp#aviation♬ original sound – PerchPoint
The real reason why you can’t use your cell phone during a flight
However, Yes, it can affect the radio communications of the pilots with the control tower. ‘If you have an aircraft with 70, 80, 150 people on board, and even if only three or four of them have their phones trying to connect to a cell tower for an incoming call, that emits radio waves,’ explains the captain. ‘There is a possibility that those radio waves could interfere with the radio waves in the headset that pilots wear.’.
He gives as an example a recent flight in which he used his headphones to receive ‘clearance on where to go’ and The interference made him feel like a ‘mosquito’ was buzzing in his ear.
‘It’s not the end of the world, but It’s pretty annoying when you’re trying to write down instructions and it looks like there’s a wasp or something flying around. So if you ever wonder why you have to put airplane mode on, that’s why,’ explains the pilot.