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expert007
join:2006-01-10
Buffalo, NY

expert007 to canesfan2001

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Re: Shouldn't be a law

"If cell phones are no threat to the computer/electrical systems of the plane"

That's just it....IF..

There's STILL alot of concerns about this, its simply not proven to be inconsequential RF interference, and until it is, they can't approve it.
Expand your moderator at work

S_engineer
Premium Member
join:2007-05-16
Chicago, IL

1 recommendation

S_engineer to expert007

Premium Member

to expert007

Re: Shouldn't be a law

I disagree. Etiquette is out the window with just about everybody. This is a small inconvenience for Tiffany that wants to talk smack on Brittani (yes, spelled with an I)who's now dating Justin. Now I know that paints a broad picture, but I think a pause for civilities purposes isn't necessarily a bad thing.

graycorgi
Premium Member
join:2004-02-23

graycorgi to Anon

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to Anon
Going to agree with the majority here and state that cell phones do not interfere with properly shielded equipment (and I'm pretty damned sure most airline equipment has to be properly shielded from all the non-cell-phone interference it already gets) which includes airline instruments and gauges.

This should not be a law nor an FAA regulation. Too much regulation = bad. Let the individual airlines decide how to handle it. It could be a selling point, boosting profits for an ailing industy (airline A offers in-flight cell use - people can talk all they want as long as they can deal with others talking, airline B offers no cell use - people who want a quiet flight can have one, or even better airline C offers text messaging only but no conversations unless emergency).
expert007
join:2006-01-10
Buffalo, NY

expert007

Member

tsume....you're right.....to a point.

Shielding is the most important element to eliminating RF interference. Unfortunately, in an aircraft of 5+ years (or 20-25) the integrity of shielding runs from so-so to downright poor.

Cat IIIB landing, no visibility, RVR at a minimum, are you damned sure you're ok with cell phone usage on an aircraft? You don't even need to know what that stuff means, but understand that there are VALID technical concerns.

And no, I'm not wearing a tinfoil hat.

AlexNYC
join:2001-06-02
Edwards, CO

2 edits

AlexNYC to expert007

Member

to expert007
said by expert007:

"If cell phones are no threat to the computer/electrical systems of the plane"

That's just it....IF..

There's STILL alot of concerns about this, its simply not proven to be inconsequential RF interference, and until it is, they can't approve it.
No, not really. Modern cell phones do not interfere. This myth was born from old analog "cell" phones which had a chance of interfering with some older equipment. Now this myth is perpetuated by the airlines for a variety of social and political reasons. Have you watched Myth Busters?
»kwc.org/mythbusters/2006 ··· ane.html

greendragon
Premium Member
join:2003-09-20
Stewartville, MN

greendragon to expert007

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to expert007
In that case the pilot could but on the "No Phones" sign and not have to worry about it anymore..

Airplane
@k12.ca.us

Airplane

Anon

They can finally repurpose those No-Smoking lights and chime!

insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN

insomniac84 to expert007

Member

to expert007
There are not valid technical concerns. How many people leave their cellphone on during flights? I sat next to a guy once who was sending messages on his blackberry the whole time. The fact is if cell phones caused any interference we would have seen it by now. The real world evidence points to there being no effect on an airplane by cellphones.

Boogeyman
Drive it like you stole it
Premium Member
join:2002-12-17
Wasilla, AK

Boogeyman to S_engineer

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to S_engineer
But what about Grandma who is stuck on the tarmac for 2 hours for some stupid reason or another, who's plane is now going to be 2 hours late and has someone waiting to pick her up when she lands?

My mom has called me so many times I cant count them all from the plane while it was waiting for something, to tell me that she'll just get a taxi when she gets here so I dont have to wait at the airport for 2hrs and possibly be late for work, etc.
expert007
join:2006-01-10
Buffalo, NY

expert007 to insomniac84

Member

to insomniac84
I'm sorry, but you have faulty logic.

"Because people haven't died of it yet, it's not a problem" just doesn't make sense. If you knew anything about aircraft design and engineering, you'd understand that everything is built to avoid a single point of failure. Since you're not privy to avionics anomaly reports, its somewhat obnoxious to claim that you know better than everyone else...particularly insiders.

You're just plain wrong, but trying to make you understand that is fruitless. Therefore I'll stop.
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2

Premium Member

How about this, we just take the easy road... it's already been shown that they do not cause interference on planes.

Personally, however, if something as little as a cell phone can take down a plane, I'd rather not be on one to begin with.

MyDomainName
@charter.com

MyDomainName to Boogeyman

Anon

to Boogeyman
Oh noes!

So what about Grandma stuck on the tarmac or people on late planes? That kind of information is provided by the airport. People can call ahead or find out when they get there and life will go on either way just like always. Seemed to work well enough before the cellphone was glued to everyone's ear.

old_dawg
"I Know Noting..."
join:2001-09-22
Westminster, MD

old_dawg to S_engineer

Member

to S_engineer
said by S_engineer:

I disagree. Etiquette is out the window with just about everybody. This is a small inconvenience for Tiffany that wants to talk smack on Brittani (yes, spelled with an I)who's now dating Justin. Now I know that paints a broad picture, but I think a pause for civilities purposes isn't necessarily a bad thing.
+++++ 1 !!!!, Where's the big thumbs up icon to put here.
yabos
join:2003-02-16
London, ON

yabos to Boogeyman

Member

to Boogeyman
You are already allowed to use phones when you are on the ground. That's not going to change.

Boogeyman
Drive it like you stole it
Premium Member
join:2002-12-17
Wasilla, AK

Boogeyman

Premium Member

Yeah, I guess I misunderstood the topic, hehe. I guess I would have to agree with the ban then, as long as you can still use your phone on the ground.

insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN

insomniac84 to expert007

Member

to expert007
said by expert007:

I'm sorry, but you have faulty logic.

"Because people haven't died of it yet, it's not a problem" just doesn't make sense. If you knew anything about aircraft design and engineering, you'd understand that everything is built to avoid a single point of failure. Since you're not privy to avionics anomaly reports, its somewhat obnoxious to claim that you know better than everyone else...particularly insiders.

You're just plain wrong, but trying to make you understand that is fruitless. Therefore I'll stop.
Well until you can point out a real world case or a serious test that shows cellphones are a danger to planes, I am going to rely on real world observation and confidently say cellphones are not a danger. And guess what, the industry/insiders side with me. If cellphones had any chance of causing problems you would have to separate the battery from your cellphone and place it in checked luggage. You definitely would not be allowed to take a cellphone onto a plane.

And to make it even worse you dispel my claim based on some kind of flawed logic, while using much worse logic in your claim. You are basically saying, "Airplanes are complicated and although no proof that cellphones can harm planes exist, logically there must still be a chance it could happen and if I had to guess I would say the data to back me up may exist, it's just not public data" Well there is a chance that when you touch an object you will pass right through it, but that doesn't mean it will happen. Oh and UFOs exist, but of course that data isn't public either.
expert007
join:2006-01-10
Buffalo, NY

1 recommendation

expert007

Member

This is quoted from a well respected avionics engineer. Are you qualified to dispel this? Of course this is stuff that doesn't appear on the front page of USA Today, but its not top secret either. Or are you of the belief that because Mythbusters proclaimed that RF is simply not an issue....it isn't?? Its kind of stupid for us to be in a pissing match, but I'm not making stuff up.

"I'm sorry but there have been numerous reports of electronic interference on too many flights to count.
The first authoritative study done was conducted by British authorities in concert with the FAA and six airlines who allowed their aircraft to be used in various stages of flight.

Very few disruptions were encountered, but; on one MD83 and a 727 the aircraft were caused to be lined up 7 degrees off centerline when a laptop was booted up in the area of the aft end of the passenger cabin. That would be where the feed-throughs are located on the 80 and 1183 on the 27.

On one 757 the center panel displays went somewhat berserk when a PDA or laptop were turned on in the wing to body disconnect area of the passenger cabin.

Interestingly enough, during the entire six weeks of the study, conducted at Heathrow, Frankfurt, and Cincinnati, no compass malfunctions were recorded. There were, however, in the over 300 tests performed more than 50 attributable malfunctions demonstrated.

All of the malfunctions were correctable by reterminating the shielding on the affected coax or simply reseating what was probably an improperly installed connector.

How do I happen to have this information? I was in CVG during the tests and got to "help" on twenty or so of the flights.

With the level of disassembly and reassembly done on a normal C check faults and weak spots will always exist and be caused by the frequent handling of the wiring of an increasingly old fleet.

There are literally hundreds of logbook discrepancies every week that get signed off as NFF or CND that may just as easily be attributed to some selfish immature jerk sitting in the back who can't be inconvenienced to turn off his "I'm more important than you" phone or PED."
moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

moonpuppy (banned)

Member

Proof enough for me.

Face it, we never see all the near misses or close calls in the aviation world until they become collisions and disasters.
moonpuppy

moonpuppy (banned) to Boogeyman

Member

to Boogeyman
said by Boogeyman:

But what about Grandma who is stuck on the tarmac for 2 hours for some stupid reason or another, who's plane is now going to be 2 hours late and has someone waiting to pick her up when she lands?

My mom has called me so many times I cant count them all from the plane while it was waiting for something, to tell me that she'll just get a taxi when she gets here so I dont have to wait at the airport for 2hrs and possibly be late for work, etc.
Nearly every major airport in this country has an arrival and departure board to show when flights are early, late or on-time. That same information is online. I just flew from BWO to ATL to SRQ (Sarasota, Fl) and all the data that was at the airport was also online. It used to be you could call the airport for that same information. I can even check on flights at EZE.

insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN

insomniac84 to expert007

Member

to expert007
said by expert007:

Interestingly enough, during the entire six weeks of the study, conducted at Heathrow, Frankfurt, and Cincinnati, no compass malfunctions were recorded. There were, however, in the over 300 tests performed more than 50 attributable malfunctions demonstrated.

All of the malfunctions were correctable by reterminating the shielding on the affected coax or simply reseating what was probably an improperly installed connector.
All problems were from a bad cable connection. So normally, electronics will not have any effect. And in a 6 week study no one reported any problems. That's a pretty long time to see not one issue.
And they were testing electronic devices and not cellphones that gave off cell signals. So this doesn't even apply to cellphones.
And they just say a laptop caused interference. What kind of laptop? Did other brands cause the same thing? What kind of signal was given off? How strong was the signal? etc. So many unasked questions.
Considering lots of electronic devices are used on planes every day and many cellphones are probably left on in people's pockets, it is supported by the data that planes just are not effect enough by electronic devices to worry about it.

You can throw out all the studies you want, but until a story makes the news where an electronic device or a cellphone caused a problem, there is no point in pretending the world will end if you make a call while in flight.
expert007
join:2006-01-10
Buffalo, NY

expert007

Member

First of all, you misinterpreted what he said. Reterminating the shielding or reseating the connector solved the issue. Since you're obviously not involved in the day to day maintenance of aircraft, you fail to understand that that is NOT a permanent fix, ergo that shielding issue is a potential ongoing problem.
Secondly, you're cherry picking words. What he said was that "no COMPASS malfunctions were recorded". There were however more than 50 attributable malfunctions NOT related to the compass. FYI, the compass is ONE of MANY systems.
I'm glad that aircraft design engineers don't make airplanes using your logic..."It's all good as long as I don't see that anyone died on CNN"
BTW, no one (including me) is insinuating that the world will end if you make a call while in flight. What we try to avoid in this aviation industry is avoid creating the potential for the *perfect storm* of events that could create a catastrophe. Not that you're going to listen to what I'm saying but WE look at what could potentially occur, such as "passenger makes cell phone call at critical phase of flight/shielding on flight management computer is compromised due to improper modification/flight crew, who is overtired misinterprets conflicting data on captains & F/O's source/windshear goes unreported, etc etc". That's reality, again, I'm not making this up, but please, don't let the facts get in the way of your opinions.

insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN

insomniac84

Member

You are just spreading FUD. Since people use electronic devices on probably every flight of the thousands going on at any one time and none of them are having problems significant enough to force the industry to ban electronics, your claims are 100% baseless. Cell phones were originally banned because they feared cell phones switching towers really fast would cause problems. And electronics were never banned.

Creee
@ntl.com

Creee

Anon

Well, you haven't provided ANY facts, ANY evidence and nothing but belligerence, whereas the other guy sounds like he's actually involved in the day-to-day workings of the airline industry. You're a backseat expert - he clearly knows.

You need to take a long look at yourself - admit you're wrong for fuck sake.