Mobile Phone in flight mode

Dermondo

Hello there, does any body know if aer lingus allow you to use your mobile phone on aeroplane mode to listen to music etc.., checked the website didn't see any info to hand, thanks in advance....

DubLegs

Coming back from frankfurt last month on aer lingus - on the announcement lady advise that phones to be turned off completley including flight mode. So suppose your not allowed, but not 100% sure on it.

Ponster

Info from Aer Lingus.ie


Help Inquiry
Help Inquiry/ Portable Electronic Equipment/
Portable Electronic Equipment

Portable electronic equipment may interfere with aircraft equipment, creating a potentially hazardous situation. With safety as a priority we pay particular attention to the following:

Mobile/Cell Phones:
These units must be switched off when aircraft doors close, or as instructed by a member of Cabin Crew. After landing, when the aircraft is parked, the engines shut down and the doors have been opened, the use of mobile phones is permitted. At all times, however, please comply with the instructions of the Cabin Crew.

Permitted in-flight but not during taxi, take-off, initial climb, approach and landing:
Laptops with CD ROM or DVD drive, palmtop organizers. Handheld Calculators without printers. Portable audio equipment (e.g. walkman, CD player, Mini disk player, ipod and MP3 player). For the comfort of other passengers these devices should only be used with a headset. Computer games (e.g. gameboy). Peripheral devices for handheld computer games are prohibited at all times (e.g. supplementary power packs connected by cable). Video cameras and recorder including digital equipment. Digital cameras. GPS handheld receivers. Electric shavers. Electronic toys (excluding remote controlled).

Devices prohibited at all times:
Devices transmitting radio frequency intentionally. Walkie talkies. Remote controlled toys. Display units with cathode ray tubes. Wireless computer equipment (e.g. mouse). PC printers. DVD, CD writers and mini disk recording mode. Digital camcorders when using CD CD write facility. Portable stereo sets. Pocket radios (AM/FM) TV receivers. Telemetric equipment. Bluetooth devices and devices that use "blueberry" technology are not permitted. The use of wireless LAN (WLAN) is not permitted. Laptops with built in WLAN (e.g. Cnetrino) may be used during the flight provided the WLAN is turned off and subject to the restrictions associated with the use of Laptops detailed above.

Devices that can be used at any time:
Devices powered by micro battery cells. Devices powered by solar cells. Electric watches. Hearing Aids (including digital devices). Pager (only receivers). Heart pace makers.

trotter_inc

Heard on the radio the other day that soon everyone will be able to use (as in make calls) their mobile phone during all phases of a flight. Imagine how annoying that is going to be! I know it will probably be of benefit to business fliers but the last thing I want on a flight is to be stuck beside someone having a phone conversation right my ear

blah

I would be so annoyed if a flight attendant told me to turn off my iPhone during a flight. It has airplane mode! :mad:

P. Breathnach

blah wrote: »

I would be so annoyed if a flight attendant told me to turn off my iPhone during a flight. It has airplane mode! :mad:

Well, get annoyed then. Airlines make their rules, not the manufacturers of phones.

My preferred in-flight entertainment is a book. [In my dreams, the mile-high club, but in reality a book.]

kerry4sam

Dermondo wrote: »

Hello there, does any body know if aer lingus allow you to use your mobile phone on aeroplane mode to listen to music etc.., checked the website didn't see any info to hand, thanks in advance....

flew with them there 2weeks ago and they said to keep all phones off for the full duration of the flight and when i told them about flight mode she wasnt 100% but asked me to turn it off anyway to be sure...either yes or no i wouldve thought and flight mode is there for such situations but as i said we were no, for the full duration of the flight

Ponster

trotter_inc wrote: »

Heard on the radio the other day that soon everyone will be able to use (as in make calls) their mobile phone during all phases of a flight.

Only BA have announced this; it could take years before everyone allows you to makes calls inflight.

Aer Lingus I find are more strict than other carriers when it comes to inflight electronic gadgets. Most companies will allow you to use a device if its got a 'flight mode' but Aer Lingus doesn't.

Random

Aer Lingus ... yah .. I pissed them off trying to explain Flight Mode .. after all, gotta follow the rules and turn it off

Dermondo

random wrote: »

Aer Lingus ... yah .. I pissed them off trying to explain Flight Mode .. after all, gotta follow the rules and turn it off

Oh right, better keep it hidden so, thanks to all who replied

trotter_inc

Dermondo wrote: »

Oh right, better keep it hidden so, thanks to all who replied

How bout you just turn it off? Im sure they know about what affects their own flight systems than Nokia or any other phone manufacturers do!

Random

trotter_inc wrote: »

How bout you just turn it off? Im sure they know about what affects their own flight systems than Nokia or any other phone manufacturers do!

On that note, I'd love to know how it actually interferes with systems. If it had potential to crash the plane I'd have thought they would be banned from the cabin for fear someone would turn it on.

I've forgotten to turn off my phone a few times - the plane didn't crash. The flight didn't seem any different than normal.

Benedict XVI

random wrote: »

On that note, I'd love to know how it actually interferes with systems. If it had potential to crash the plane I'd have thought they would be banned from the cabin for fear someone would turn it on.

I've forgotten to turn off my phone a few times - the plane didn't crash. The flight didn't seem any different than normal.

Mobile phones attach to base stations using radio frequency technology.

When a phone moves around it tries to attach to the strongest signal, it may have to up it's own radio output power to get the best signal.

All the time it is sending and receiving messages over the radio network.

If you re on a plane you are traveling at 200+MPH and your phone is on it will constantly be jumping from one base station to another because it is moving location so often, and because you are far from the base stations it will be on full power trying to attach to those base stations.

So if you have a plane with 300 people with their phones on, and the phones are hopping for base station to base station on full power, the amount of radio traffic that is generated may cause problem with the planes navigation systems.

One phone left on by accident will not bring the plane down.

It also causes problem for the phone networks, with 300 phones hopping all over the place the network will get spammed with messages which will cause congestion on the network.

trotter_inc

random wrote: »

I've forgotten to turn off my phone a few times - the plane didn't crash. The flight didn't seem any different than normal.

That's a bit extreme, one phone doesnt have the potential to bring down a plane, it just causes interference like the other poster said.

Random

trotter_inc wrote: »

That's a bit extreme, one phone doesnt have the potential to bring down a plane, it just causes interference like the other poster said.

Fair enough.

Bluetonic

One important thing to note is that VHF, HF, SF and LF which are used for ground to air communications between the cockpit and ATC (data and voice) operate at totally different frequencies than GSM.

Also a GSM base station won't be able to communicate with a phone once the phone is over a few 100 meters so when an activated phone is travelling at 600mph at 35,000 feet it's impossible for GSM base station to phone communication to happen and therefore the phone can not and does not register on any networks whilst in flight over a few 100 meters, although the phone will be still looking for a base station.

A move towards ATN communications is one of the enabling factors in the future usage of GSM phones on flights, for now the usage will be enabled in a crude enough method. There are plenty of white papers available on the method.