Cellphone use in flight. Interpreting the FCC rules.

SixPapaCharlie

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Some may not know. the FAA isn't the one telling us to turn our phones off, it is the FCC.

Reading the sections below, I became curious.
If I check the weather on my phone in flight, isn't it using the ground based cell towers?
I assume, my phone is pretty much always connecting to towers so it can update apps, receive texts, etc. You guys aren't all putting your cell in airplane mode when you fly to breakfast are you?


1. Part 90 rules restrict the use of SMR handsets while airborne in certain circumstances.[1] The altitude restriction in section 90.423 prohibits operations on aircraft that are regularly flown at altitudes at one mile or above and, consequently, essentially bans Part 90 land mobile radio use on commercial airline flights.[2] These rules were enacted to prevent harmful interference with land-based operations by the use of land mobile frequencies aboard high-flying aircraft.

Part 22 of the Commission’s rules prohibits the airborne use of 800 MHz cellular telephones, including the use of such phones on commercial and private aircraft.[1] This prohibition was adopted in 1991 to guard against the threat of harmful interference from airborne use of cellular phones to terrestrial cellular networks.[2] The Commission’s prohibition was not to ensure interference-free operation of avionics equipment.
 
Some may not know. the FAA isn't the one telling us to turn our phones off, it is the FCC.
My understanding (someone will correct me if I'm wrong) is that the sections you quoted do not describe modern phones. So it's not even the FCC, it's the Airlines (and the FAA rules about PEDs).
 
My understanding (someone will correct me if I'm wrong) is that the sections you quoted do not describe modern phones. So it's not even the FCC, it's the Airlines (and the FAA rules about PEDs).

That's good info. I have no idea how many jigawatts current cellphones use.
 
When I took my IR checkride (Probably about, I dunno, 2003?) the DPE plugged his cell phone in to his headset adapter before the flight and said "and you will, too."
 
As an aside, on a flight once, I was seated next to some AA maintenance muckety muck. She was using her phone to text through the takeoff and I made some joke about hoping she knew what she was doing. She told me they'd done an experiment with Stingray-type devices in the overheads on a few flights and that what they discovered was that if people leaving their phones on could crash planes, there'd be virtually no successful flights ever....
 
When I was training for my IR, I would regularly catch a glimpse of my CFII texting while I was under the hood. He probably assumed I couldn't see him do that.
 
[QUOTE="Lindberg, post: 3145558, member: 16966".....if people leaving their phones on could crash planes, there'd be virtually no successful flights ever....[/QUOTE]

that sounds phoney to me.
 
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I would worry more navigation devices being disturbed by the magnetic field generated by vaccinated people which is so strong it will attract a non-magnetic brass Kwikset key.
Screen-Shot-2021-06-10-at-6.21.00-PM-768x407.png


(yes, I know I posted this before, but it's just too ****ing funny.)
 
I would worry more navigation devices being disturbed by the magnetic field generated by vaccinated people which is so strong it will attract a non-magnetic brass Kwikset key.
Screen-Shot-2021-06-10-at-6.21.00-PM-768x407.png


(yes, I know I posted this before, but it's just too ****ing funny.)
You have really good eyes if you can tell brass keys from steel at this distance.
 
BBA3AAC7-EA64-4EC0-906A-A56A14008486.jpeg It’s my understanding that the
FCC rules still apply. For work I don’t go out of airplane mode or I’ll get fired. Have no need to be out of airplane mode anyway. For private, well no one is monitoring me so…

View attachment 100165
 
[QUOTE="Lindberg, post: 3145558, member: 16966".....if people leaving their phones on could crash planes, there'd be virtually no successful flights ever....

that sounds phoney to me.[/QUOTE]

It may sound phoney to you, but if it rings true, you'll hear many politicians calling for additional regulation.
 
My iPad updates from the ADSB signal brought in from my transponder. I don't need a phone to update weather since I have it right in front of me.
 
People flying GA actually take that serious and shut their cell phones off?
 
People flying GA actually take that serious and shut their cell phones off?
I put mine in airplane mode when I'm going to be more than a couple thousand feet up, or flying over long stretches of rural territory with very low chances of coverage. It's not because I take the regs (FCC or FAA) regarding cell phone usage seriously, though -- it's just to keep my phone from wasting its battery trying to find a signal.

I do keep it in airplane mode on commercial flights, mostly because there's no service anyway, but also partly because I don't want to be "that guy" and make the job of the FA (or whatever we're calling them this week) any more difficult.
 
I try to use airplane mode, especially in IMC. There’s no feeling in the world like shooting an approach in weather when your phone rings through the headset.
 
Please tell me that whether it was brass or steel is not the point. That would imply you think she was actually magnetized.
Not necessarily. It's an easy way to prove that her demo doesn't mean what she thinks it does.
 
I always put my phone in airplane mode except the times when I usually forget. I usually find out when I land and my battery is really low.

BTW, if you crash somewhere remote, you can be triangulated in under 5 minutes by your phone signal. Coincidentally, you can be triangulated just as fast if you haven't crashed.
 
The FCC rule is a old hold over from the analog cell phone days. The way it’s been explained to me by my radio engineer father was that the transmitting power was high enough to hit numerous cell towers if airborne. Each tower would then try to become the primary tower for that phone until the system locked up. Multiply that by thousands of phones in the air and it would crash the cell network.

The system was only designed for the phone to “see” only several towers and slowly rotate to the nearest one as the primary. Now with digital cell phones the transmitter power is negligible and modern cell tower antenna radiation patterns point towards the earth with very short line of sights. So the issue mostly went away.
 
Do I remember rightly that the FCC regulation that prohibits airborne use of cell phones only covers one of the cell phone bands?
 
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