Landing with limited visibility - turn off electronics?

dulpit

So last night as we were approaching ORK the pilot came on and advised that due to limited visibility we would need to turn off all electronics, including those already in flight mode. This is the first time I've ever encountered this, what's the deal with this? Do the electronics affect something to that extent that it's dangerous to have them on when landing in limited visibility (was v.cloudy coming into land, spent a good chunk of final 10 minutes being able to see nothing beyond the wing..)

KoolKid

Never heard of it before.

de biz

Which airline?

Growler!!!

de biz wrote: »

Which airline?

Stobart.

It's usually mentioned in the before landing PA by the cabin crew if requested by the Capt. If the pilot mentioned it on the PA he must be one of the pedantic ones.

It's to do with possible interference with the nav equipment. Most people will ignore it but landing at 220Kmh and maybe only seeing the runway at 100ft in 300m vis I'd rather not take the chance, so I'll turn mine off

Cessna_Pilot

Growler!!! wrote: »

Stobart.

It's usually mentioned in the before landing PA by the cabin crew if requested by the Capt. If the pilot mentioned it on the PA he must be one of the pedantic ones.

It's to do with possible interference with the nav equipment. Most people will ignore it but landing at 220Kmh and maybe only seeing the runway at 100ft in 300m vis I'd rather not take the chance, so I'll turn mine off

Could also be a way of mitigating hearing the de de de de as phones that are on, start picking up their networks. It does happen, and it's bloody annoying.

Locker10a

This is standard SOP in low visibility conditions, if instructed by the airport that certain conditions are present then for takeoff and landing only Passengeres will be asked to switch off all electronic equipment a la the old days!

arubex

Oddly enough the pilots don't turn-off their tablet-based electronic flight-bags...

The FAA panel that investigated consumer-electronic interference issues reported back in 2013 that modern aircraft are sufficiently resilient to intereference for it not to be an issue, but there was some uncertainty over ILS systems hence the low-viz exception.

Growler!!!

Locker10a wrote: »

for takeoff and landing only

The SOP is only required for landing. Take off is based on visual reference of runway lighting from the cockpit. No instruments required. (LVTO)

arubex wrote: »

Oddly enough the pilots don't turn-off their tablet-based electronic flight-bags...

These are controlled, tested and approved devices. Unlike the myriad of pax electronics. Most annoying on the flight deck is the use of Apple watches. I've had to reprimand a number of our guys who get distracted on the approach with incoming messages. Even though the first thing on the prelim checklist is mobile phones....off!!!
My present operator has banned Apple watches on the flight deck for this reason.

Locker10a

Growler!!! wrote: »

Locker10a wrote: »

for takeoff and landing only

The SOP is only required for landing. Take off is based on visual reference of runway lighting from the cockpit. No instruments required. (LVTO)

.

Woops, !! :0 someone better tell my airline this, seems they've not realised this yet !!

Growler!!!

Locker10a wrote: »

Woops, !! :0 someone better tell my airline this, seems they've not realised this yet !!

Which bit?

The SOP? Which is company specific to the company being discussed here.

Or no instruments required for low vis take off? EASA regulations, again company specific but I know of no major Irish operator not qualified as such.

Locker10a

Growler!!! wrote: »

Locker10a wrote: »

Woops, !! :0 someone better tell my airline this, seems they've not realised this yet !!

Which bit?

The SOP? Which is company specific to the company being discussed here.

Or no instruments required for low vis take off? EASA regulations, again company specific but I know of no major Irish operator not qualified as such.

My company requires as per SOP that all electronics are completely off for low vis take off and landing , if the reasoning behind the rule is in relation to the ILS ( which I don't doubt) my point was some airlines seem to require this during take off too!

Lustrum

Locker10a wrote: »

My company requires as per SOP that all electronics are completely off for low vis take off and landing , if the reasoning behind the rule is in relation to the ILS ( which I don't doubt) my point was some airlines seem to require this during take off too!

In my place we only require them to be all off for landing, however, our SOP is that the f/o has the ILS up on his ND for centerline tracking during take off, so I suppose you could argue that it would be no harm for everything to be off for departure too.

And for whoever pointed out that the pilots iPads aren't off, if only 2 people are allowed have their devices on in LVPs, I certainly know which 2 I'd pick!

ED E

Growler!!! wrote: »

These are controlled, tested and approved devices. Unlike the myriad of pax electronics.

Its still a bit of a joke as CE devices either operate at 2.4/5Ghz way out of the way of aviation use or are heavily regulated. And if you're worried about landing you're already moving into the range of thousands of TXing devices on the ground. Sure somebody placed a P2P radio link across the glide slope at DUB previously (then was confused when it was unreliable).