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What I meant is that we are not talking about absolutes here. There will be some cell phones turned on, sure, but the less there is, the less likely it is to become a problem. And one of the reasons airplanes are not constantly falling out of the sky is that there are thousands of little rules and safety considerations at every level. Software, hardware, pilot training, ATC, and some of them affect passengers directly. For example one not so obvious rule is that the cabin lights are turned off at night during landing, the reason is to make sure the eyes of passengers are accommodated to a dark environment in case of an evacuation. Rules related to electronic devices are in that category. Rules are much less stringent on general aviation, but general aviation is also much less safe than commercial aviation. Cessnas don't fall out of the sky constantly but they do it more often than Boeings. The ratio is about the same as motorbikes vs cars. I repeat, cell phones won't make planes fall out of the sky by themselves! But if the plane is already in the unlikely situation where it is about to fall out of the sky, everyone needs to be fully alert to respond to the situation, and the authorities concluded that it is better without beeping cell phones. Has it saved lives? We don't know, but if we waited for someone to die to implement safety policies, we would have a lot of dead people. The rules may change, in fact they are changing and cell phones are allowed in some flights, but please follow the damn rules, there are here for a reason even if it may not be obvious. Flying is intrinsically dangerous: deadly speeds, deadly heights and deadly outdoor conditions. And yet commercial aviation is one of the safest means of transportation, the likes of the FAA and EASA are doing at least some things right. And on a more personal, subjective note: I think it is a good thing to disconnect once in a while. |
A lot of people are ignorant of spectrum allocation, and sideband interference. Twenty years ago I had an old Samsung flip phone (2G/3G). I could tell every time a text came in when I was sitting at my computer, because the speakers would let loose with a tell-tale 'bzzzt bzzzt bzzzt' before the phone could finish handling it and displaying that I had a text. The handshake with the tower would be picked up somewhere in the audio path.