computerworld.com — its not because they interfere with the airplane's electronics... its not because they might interfere with cell tower systems on the ground. The airlines fear "crowd control" problems if cell phones are allowed in flights. They believe cell phone calls might promote rude behavior and conflict between passengers.
Apr 7, 2007 View in Crawl 4
topnotchnetApr 8, 2007
this just inthe majority of humans (especially americans) are selfish ignorant a holesnews at 11now go about your day wasting money talking about nothing important to nobody important, while paying attention to even less so you can speed and endanger lives just so you can make it to your next unhealthy "fast" meal 5 minutes earlier, because your to ignorant to buy in bulk or plan for longer than a day at a time plus your too lazy to learn how to heat up food and add spices to taste don't forget to take all those legal drugs your addicted too but don't even realize it (coffee, soda pop, alcohol, tobacco) just so that you can get through your day and pay .40 of every dollar you earn to politicians/corporations that kill brown people, occupy their land, and steal their resources so that you can be "free" to watch reality tv while all the lights in your house are on and the door is wide open even though the heat is set at 80 or the ac is set at 60
mstkApr 8, 2007
What the hell, Ibis? It sounds like you just proved them right.
nerfdudeApr 8, 2007
@wuxiai haven't made calls from airlines before, but i have sent and received texts just fine. also, amazingly, i'm still alive!
dopexileApr 8, 2007
Okay a of points here, some of which I'm sure have been stated already.1) Cell phones are low power output, and they won't work in flight unless you happen to be flying over lots of cell phone towers.2) The cell phone network is not designed for potentially a thousand people flying by towers at the same time.3) Studies have proven that cell phones can interfere with avionics: <a class="user" href="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06060/662669.stm">http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06060/662669.stm</a>4) There is a Mythbusters episode in which you can undisputedly watch avionic needles change direction as frequencies are transmitted in a Faraday cage.5) There have been incidents where cell phones have been suspected of interfering with GPS navigation and bringing down planes. It is a huge liability risk for the FAA.6) The in-flight cell phones have been designed to be safe. Their transceiver is on the plane are unidirectional whereas cell phones are omni-directional. They have been tested to ensure safety during flight. In-flight phones do not provide analogous logic to validate cell phone use.7) Most airplanes appear to be well-shielded against cellphone interference, but there are so many different electronics in a c**kpit, as well as so many different cellphones constantly coming out and with various frequencies, the FAA doesn't want to do the necessary testing. It makes no sense to waste taxpayer money to test cell phones that won't work for more than a few seconds during flight.
andergriffApr 8, 2007
Bottom line: if you use a cellphone, have the courtesy to seek privacy before you start babbling away. The rest of us don't want to hear your one-sided conversation.
nomonkeyApr 9, 2007
You hope they cause brain tumors? What a sad little person you are.
dogstar0125Apr 12, 2007
Yep that's exactly it. I'm surprised that the article didn't raise this exact point. Let's be serious: if cell phones interfered with airplane electronics, they would have to be turned off and checked before boarding.
kestrel127May 11, 2007
What's worse is that people would be yelling at that altitude. You know how loud it is on a plane? Seriously, you have to buy expensive noise-canceling head phones just to listen to music when flying. I support the ban!
globalunlockJan 11, 2010
This is just a misconception among airplane passengers who believe that cell phone affects the airplanes electronics.
classicresortFeb 11, 2010
your single serving friends?