Pilot Reveals Why You Should Always Turn Your Phone on Airplane Mode
On every flight, you're instructed to turn your phone on airplane mode prior to take-off. Alarmists allege leaving smartphones on could cause planes to fall from the sky, but pilots have debunked that time and time again. Others, however, see it as an arbitrary request with little to no consequences if not followed. So, which is it?
Airline pilot @PerchPoint took to TikTok to leave a PSA.
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"If you forget to put your phone in airplane mode, no, it's not the end of the world," he said. "The plane will not fall out of the sky, and it won't even mess with the systems onboard. However, it does have the potential to mess with the headsets."
And it can happen even if just a few folks don't oblige.
"If you have an aircraft with 70, 80, 150 people on board, and even three or four people's phones start to try to make a connection to a radio tower for an incoming phone call, it sends out radio waves," he adds. "There's a potential that those radio waves can interfere with the radio waves of the headset the pilots are using."
He goes on to tell a story of what a phone trying to connect to a radio tower looks like from a pilot's point of view. According to him, it sounds like "there's a mosquito in my ear," which can be both annoying and potentially troublesome when a pilot is trying to get important directions.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says something of the same on its website. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and FAA "ban cell phones for airborne use because signals could interfere with critical aircraft instruments. Devices must be used in airplane mode or with the cellular connection disabled. You may use the WiFi connection on your device if the plane has an installed WiFi system and the airline allows its use."