Why should we use airplane mode during flight?

Those accustomed to regular flying are already familiar with the “rite” of flight attendants, who explain the routines passengers must follow after closing the main gate. Among them, each with its own logic is to put mobile phones in “airplane” mode during flight.

The more or less general understanding is that if we don’t turn off our cell phones while the plane is flying over the range of a tower, the device will try to connect with it. With the numerous attempts of many travelers, the sum of these signals supposedly cause some sort of interference with the aircraft’s navigation systems.

Does cell phone affect flight instruments?

According to Doug Drury, professor of aeronautics at Queensland Central University (CQUniversity) in writing for the website SpeechAn independent study by the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and Boeing could not detect any problems with using computers or other personal electronic devices during non-critical phases of flight. The critical stages are takeoff and landing.

Also, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created special frequency bandwidths for mobile phones and aircraft navigation/communications. Governments around the world have adopted similar procedures, and from 2014 the European Union allowed electronic devices to remain powered on.

So why are cell phones still banned on flights?

The reason why the aviation industry continues to ban the use of mobile phones despite all the global protocols in place is not really related to possible interference with aircraft. but on the ground!

Only if all passengers flying over them decide to use their mobile phones at the same time can the towers responsible for keeping wireless networks working can become overloaded. According to the German statistics portal Statista, That number was over 2.2 billion in 2021.

Things get weirdly worse when it comes to current 5G wireless networks. According to the aviation industry, the wireless network bandwidth spectrum of the new technology very close to the bandwidth spectrum reserved for aviation. This can cause interference with flight control systems near airports.