Why is it that passengers are always told to keep their mobile phones on flight mode or even switch them off? We would want you to know what happens if you defile this rule. There has been this theory that if passengers do not switch their phones to flight mode, the plane would crush. This may not be true because technology has become safe and reliable. However, you may end up irritating your pilot if you don’t comply with the general rule of flying when your phone remains active.
Most of us have been told that the signals from a phone may end up interfering with the telecommunication or electrical systems in the cockpit and this may cause a plane to develop trouble and crush. Once in the air, a lot of flights would demand that no voice calls or even texting should be done. This is done out of the passengers’ comfort or safety on board. This ban started a long time ago when it was said that radio frequency from a mobile phone could alter the system of a plane.
You may be asking what happens to those who make use of their mobiles on private jets? There have not been any evidence that signals from your mobile device can malfunction a plane to crush. What your phone signal may end up doing is to irritate your pilot and the air traffic controllers. It usually happens with an annoying sound which may be the reason you are asked to switch your phone to flight mode on air.
Currently, we have better phones and also picocells, which is an on board system that can be used in making calls on flights. There are some international flights you may make and you are allowed to make call or even text in flights. Picocell works like a miniature mobile device tower that communicates with any phone within the aircraft. It relays its signal to a land based system or satellites. It works on a separate frequency from the aircraft and does not have to irritate the pilot. This type of communication gadget is low cost and it is as big as the ream of an A4 paper. Picocells operate at very low power and are designed systems that would not interfere with the flight crew’s communications.
We must let you know that if there is a repeated interference from your mobile device, there may be an incidence of a flight crew to suffer from missing a radio call that comes from air traffic control. You can cause this when you are surreptitiously texting on your mobile device.
