All travelers know the drill once they sit in their seat – first fasten your seatbelt and then put smartphones on Airplane Mode.
But they may not know the real reason for going off the grid is for a very simple reason.
A pilot, who goes by @perchpoint, revealed that smartphones interfere with their headsets when they aren’t placed on Airplane Mode and can pose a distraction when they’re trying to communicate with ground control.
In a video posted on TikTok, he explained that the Airplane Mode feature ‘is not a conspiracy’ and there is a good reason why you’re asked to switch off before the plane takes off.
‘It’s not the end of the world. The plane will not fall out of the sky. And it won’t even mess with the systems on board,’ he said.
‘However, it does have the potential to mess with the headsets,’ telling viewers that it creates a disturbance in their communication systems that sounds like buzzing.
This can be distracting while pilots are trying to take down coordinates and receive directions from crew in satellite towers.
Commenters questioned the validity of how serious the issue was, with one person responding: ‘If it truly presented any risk to the flight airlines would be collecting phones from passengers.’
PerchPoint did note that the plane wouldn’t experience severe repercussions for not turning on Airplane Mode and hasn’t been linked to any crashes.
The pilot was in the US Army and has been a professional flyer since 2019 before advancing to a pilot two years ago.
Despite the lack of major issues of keeping your smartphone on during your flight, he Federal Communications Commission and Federal Aviation Administration still ban cell phones for airborne use.
‘Phones not on airplane mode and interfering with radios is something that happens under the right circumstances,’ PerchPoint explained.
‘It depends on things like the phone provider, location of the plane, the phone actively trying to make or receive a phone call, and where the passenger is sitting,’ he added, clarifying that the closer a passenger is sitting to the cockpit, the higher the chance of interference.
‘Many flights happen per day, with thousands of passengers, they just wanna mitigate the chances of interference with airplane mode with as many passengers.’
Tamara Vallois, head of communications at Wizz Air, told Condé Nast Traveler that even though phones are out of reach of cell towers they will still send out electrical signals in the search for this connection.
By switching flight mode on, cellular signals are disabled which means there will be absolutely no physical interference on the aircraft.
However, because wireless networks are connected by a series of towers, they could become overloaded if airplane passengers are still using their phones.
Concerns have only increased with the rollout of 5G wireless networks which is close to that used for aviation bandwidth, which could cause interference between planes and navigation systems located near airports that assist the pilot with landing the aircraft.
The pilot shared his recent experience of experiencing interference during a flight he was piloting, saying he was utilizing his headset to receive clearance on which way to direct the plane.
‘As soon as we started getting directions, there’s this, like, really annoying buzz going through the headset,’ he said.
‘Like I said, it’s not the end of the world, but it is definitely annoying when you’re trying to copy down instructions.’
The use of cellphones onboard aircraft to make voice calls or send texts has been prohibited since 1991, but many have wondered what happens if you forget to turn your phone on flight mode on a plane.
Dai Whittingham, chief executive of the UK Flight Safety Committee, told the BBC that airplane mode was historically important due to a lack of knowledge about how mobile devices affect aircraft.
‘There was a concern they could interfere with automatic flight control systems,’ he said.
‘What has been found with experience is the risk of interference is very small. The recommendation has always been that once you are in flight, devices should be in airplane mode.’
