Here is what really happens if you don’t put your smartphone into flight mode/airplane mode when flying
You
may have traveled a lot by air and may have been told and warned to
switch your smartphone to flight mode or airplane mode. Have you ever
wondered why you are asked by the flight attendants on board to switch
your devices to airplane mode during transit? Did you ever imagine what
would happen if you didn’t put your smartphone on airplane mode when you
are up in the air?
Most of us may feel it is unnecessary to
switch to airplane mode during flight. Some of us even feel that doing
so is a waste of time as it achieves nothing as it doesn’t interfere
with plane’s electrical and telecommunication systems and is not a
matter of life and death, some think it can cause occasional disturbance
not leading to a crash for sure.
So, what is the truth? Let’s
find out what exactly happens when passengers or crew don’t switch their
phones to airplane mode during a flight!
There
is no evidence that signals from passengers’ electronic devices have
ever caused a plane to malfunction and crash. The reason for prospective
safety concerns is due to the fact that when you are more than 10,000
feet in the air, your cell phone signal bounces off multiple towers and
sends out a stronger signal. This is something that might congest the
networks on the ground. But, there has never been a case of a cell phone
causing a plane to crash.
Also, if you leave it on, it can annoy
pilots and cause an unpleasant sound for air traffic controllers. A
smartphone’s radio emissions can be very strong, up to 8W, which cause
this noise due to parasitic demodulation. However, in a worst case
scenario, repeated interference from mobiles could cause the crew to
miss a crucial radio call from air traffic control.
In a blog post for
Airline Updates,
a pilot said that transmitting mobiles can cause audible interference
on an aircraft’s radios, but it is rare. He said: “Your phone will
probably annoy a few pilots and air traffic controllers. But, most
likely, not badly enough for them to take action against you if that’s
what you want to know.”
“You may have heard that unpleasant noise
from an audio system that occasionally happens when a mobile phone is
nearby. I actually heard such noise on the radio while flying. It is not
safety critical, but is annoying for sure.”
Those problems are
something like the noise that can be heard when a smartphone rings near
to a speaker: a slow, percussive thumping. But instead of coming out of a
speaker it can be heard through the headsets that are worn by pilots.
Further,
he also continues by saying that if 50 people on the plane did not turn
their smartphone onto flight mode, it would cause a lot of “radio
pollution.”
An
engineer named ‘Coenraad Loubser’ said on Quora: “To compound matters,
the weaker the signal your cell phone picks up from the tower, the more
it amplifies its signal to try and get a response (and the more battery
it uses). Planes with onboard cell coverage, allow your phone to
communicate using very low power, or Wi-Fi. When you put your phone in
Airplane mode, the GSM/3G Radio inside your phone is completely disabled
and you can still use the phone for other functions.”
So, when you are flying next time, it is advisable to stick to the rules onboard.
By Kavita Iyer
