Mobile phones in aircrafts

Every in-flight safety announcement includes the mandatory caution against use of mobile phones as they ‘interfere with the onboard navigation system’. When phones were fewer and flyers were more sophisticated, this instruction was easily complied. Cheaper flights and even cheaper cell phones have led to 100 percent mobile penetration among the flying crowd. Making calls just before taking the flight and just after it has just touched down given the flyer-cum-owner a great sense of ‘having arrived’ quite literally. A few other factors such as a jazzy phone and a cute companion on the next seat, a latest tune as ring tone or sheer love for earphone music are in my opinion adding to increased usage of cell phones while the doors of the aircraft are still bolted and pressurized.

I have been noticing with alarm the increased frequency of these die-hard cell phone users ignoring the ‘switch off your mobiles’ instructions with as much ease as the ‘in the unlikely event of an water landing..’ instruction. When I notice such a person at close distance, not only does my acrophobia get a notch higher, I feel stupid about abiding by the instruction. Even though I feel really tempted to make a complain, the only thing I can do is just wishing that someone from the crew notices the person and censures him/her.

Have you ever noticed that the ability to complain directly reduces as the sophistication of travel increases? One does not mind throwing a few insults at a guy sitting few seats away in a bus, but, the complain gets milder if you are traveling by train (I am excluding the local trains of Mumbai from my sample space here) and even milder in air. The spectrum of complains in terms of promptness and loudness has a direct correlation with the class of travel in a train too. Of course, air travel being at the top of traveling class, one can only mutter a few things to himself or let out a few grunts towards the sky looking at the window in case of objectionable behavior like a swift push back of the front seat or not switching of a mobile phone that may ‘interfere with the onboard navigation systems!’.

So, are the mobiles really a threat to flight safety? If so, should they not collect everyone’s mobiles at the beginning of the flight, just like they collect headphones or blankets at the end? Of course, they would then have to track which one belonged to whom. A little search on the internet reveals a ton of information. I recommend the wiki article on ‘mobile phones in aircraft’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_on_aircraft) . Possible interference with aircraft equipments (not conclusively tested and hence left to the airlines to take precautionary step of switching off) is listed as a cause. Another interesting possibility is that the mechanism that allow cell phones to work on the ground (nearest tower picks up the signal while other towers are free to serve people near them), can impact the cellular network when the phone is over a city and multiple towers are equidistant. Of course, there is no conclusive proof about this too.

However, certain airlines have agreed to allow mobile phones on their planes using an on-board station that receives the mobile signal and transmits to terrestrial stations using a different wave length. Well, soon we may be allowed mobile phones in the aircrafts. However, I sincerely hope that it does not happen or if it does, airlines offer ‘no-mobile’ zones. Why? Imagine yourself sitting in an economy class seat on a long haul flight with passengers on your sides just chattering away! The last place free from the mobile menace will also be lost.