Mobile Debate Is Up In The Air
Hot debate continues to boil over the use of electronic devices, particularly mobile phones, on aircraft.
Most flights of course, require these to be set to ‘Flight Mode’ then only used at cruising altitude.
However, some carriers, for example Emirates, BA, Virgin, Lufthansa, have facilities for mobile devices to be used to communicate with the ground from selected aircraft in their fleet.
While most of us are blissfully content to have an excuse for having a few hours of pre-planned out-of-range time, many others are demanding to be able to keep in touch every waking second, even when airborne.
So, are there good reasons for using ‘Flight Mode’ to switch off external radio communication functions from portable devices on most planes?
Experts are divided on this.
Some point to many unexplained incidents of interference with aircraft navigation systems from the days when use was uncontrolled.
They also say that the only potential explanation for a crash in New Zealand in February 2003, when a plane hit a tree short of the runway, was a call made by the pilot on his mobile during the final descent.
Other experts insist that modern phones cause less interference than the bricks of decades past and are now perfectly safe.
In 2006, the TV show ‘Mythbusters’ claimed to prove that modern phones do not interfere at all with navigation on modern aircraft.
For my part, though, I am happy to err on the side of caution, not least because I really do not want to be trapped in a flying sardine can with a talkative traveller who yabbers on a mobile all the way from Birmingham to Bodrum!
