[rory]

Before landing on the last flight I was on, the flight attendants requested that everyone turn off their phones (even if in airplane mode) due to the weather conditions while landing. Does anyone know what purpose that could possibly serve?

This was in France if that's a relevant clue.

[ktta]

The France clue actually contradicts my guess, because I'm guessing that was an Airbus? Anyways, he's one theory:

Boeing has an issue where its radio altimeters are affected by C-band 5G transmissions. I believe maybe the pilots were relying more on the precision of the altimeter because their vision was impaired due to the bad weather? The whole 'turn off phones' instruction could be because people would follow the unusual request to turn off their phones instead of just telling them to put it in airplane mode (which is so common that some people just don't bother)

[r00fus]

Last flight I had from SFO->CDG was on a Boeing 737-800. AirFrance doesn't mean it's always Airbus.

[ktta]

They didn't mention it was AirFrance in their origninal comment, and when they said "in France", I assumed an intra-France flight. Many regional & LCC carriers in Europe operate Airbus planes exclusively.

[usr1106]

If SFO is supposed to mean San Francisco and CDG Paris then certainly not. The max range of a 737-800 is about 50% of the distance.

[pantojax45]

It’s a 777

[r00fus]

You're correct. Here's the plane we took: 777-300ER

https://us.trip.com/flights/status-af084/

[rory]

I'm pretty ignorant of airplane models, Air France flight but it was a large plane so may have been a Boeing 777.

[atlasunshrugged]

I think they meant because it's Air France and the EU generally tries to support Airbus (based in Europe) rather than Boeing (based in the U.S.) it seems likely that it is an Airbus aircraft

[rory]

I understand-- I looked it up, and although they're only buying Airbus going forward, most of their 10-across fleet is still 777: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_fleet

[Gh0stRAT]

Probably because the pilots were going to be flying an IFR approach. (flying on just instruments through low visibility near the ground, a worst-case scenario for interference being able to cause a fatal crash)

[u10]

Probably so that if there was an issue people are paying attention and not screwing around on their phones/listening to music

[dwrowe]

I’d interpret this as a “pay attention and be ready” rather than something from the phone itself.

[usr1106]

Interference can be a serious problem for autoland https://avherald.com/h?article=445873f3/0001

Whether electronic devices inside the plane are such problem I don't know.

[yxhuvud]

It's because they want people to be attentive if shit hits the fan during landing. Being attentive make you respond faster if you need to evacuate.