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Thread ID: 132137 2013-05-08 01:17:00 What I've been saying for years! johcar (6283) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1340204 2013-05-08 01:17:00 www.computerworld.com.au

I have forgotten to switch my phone to flight mode many times while flying - none of the planes crashed or got lost. Wow - big news!

I wonder if the FAA read Computerworld Australia?

The bigger issue is the idiots that will want to have a loud conversation on their cellphone while sitting on the plane if (when?) the FAA see the error of their ways and allow electronic devices to be switched on, and not on Flight Mode, while flying.
johcar (6283)
1340205 2013-05-08 01:32:00 What does flight mode do? Does it change the power output of the phone, or something like that? Or is flight mode just something to make people feel better, when, in effect, it does nothing?

I have not turned my phone off many times and, as Johcar as said, none of the planes have crashed. But when I remember, I do turn it off as I am not expecting to be able to be contacted at 50,000 feet. Besides, I am quite certain that missing a phone call or two is not the end of the world, is it?
Roscoe (6288)
1340206 2013-05-08 01:36:00 Flight mode on my android phone cuts all signals, eg no txting, no signal for incoming or outgoing calls etc.

Found that out the hard way when one day I some how switched over to flight mode ( must have been while driving -- Kidding) and it was odd I wasn't getting any calls for a day when I was expecting some ---- Felt stupid when I discovered it dhurrrrrr
wainuitech (129)
1340207 2013-05-08 01:47:00 Flight mode on my android phone cuts all signals, eg no txting, no signal for incoming or outgoing calls etc.

So it seems that flight mode does the same as switching the phone off. So why not switch the phone off then? Sounds just as easy and just the same as switching it to flight mode.
Roscoe (6288)
1340208 2013-05-08 01:56:00 So it seems that flight mode does the same as switching the phone off. So why not switch the phone off then? Sounds just as easy and just the same as switching it to flight mode.

You may want to use the fone for something else rather than fone calls..
paulw (1826)
1340209 2013-05-08 03:25:00 Flight mode disables all radio signals out of the phone, you can still play games on it or listen to music etc. I've noticed flight staff don't allow even that during take off and landing.

Mythbusters tested this a while back and concluded that there was very little chance of a phone causing a plane to crash. However it all stems from a flight that did crash which the investigators decided MAY have been related to interference from something such as a cell phone. Perhaps when you are hurtling through the sky in a flimsy aluminium can being a little paranoid on the side of safety is a good thing ?
dugimodo (138)
1340210 2013-05-08 03:29:00 As a mobile phone gets further from the closest base station, it increases its output signal strength

So when a mobile phone is in flight and can't find a base station, it turns up it's output signal strength to maximum.

The solution is common and simple: put a base station on the plane, and let passengers use their mobile phones.

So the mobile phone put out an even weaker signal, and the airline make even more money.

oem.bmj.com
kingdragonfly (309)
1340211 2013-05-08 03:44:00 The real problem has always been trying to sort out the handover from cell site to cell site when the phone is above so many and moving quickly. kingdragonfly's solution fixes that. PaulD (232)
1340212 2013-05-08 04:13:00 Flight mode on my android phone cuts all signals, eg no txting, no signal for incoming or outgoing calls etc.

Same on Windows Phone, although it'll let you turn WiFi and Bluetooth back on - presumably so you can use in-flight WiFi.
pcuser42 (130)
1340213 2013-05-08 05:44:00 Hmm. Wonder if that 9/11 flight crashed without hitting its intended target as a result of all the cell phone calls being made? :eek: Greg (193)
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