denverpilot
Tied Down
This NO cellphone in planes restriction is bogus on several fronts and prove the feds are behind the technology 8 ball again.....
First,
it is my understanding the ban is for commercial, revenue derived flights only. Not private GA flights... That is why they specifically say " the captain he requested you turn off all enectronic devices" when you are flying scheduled airline service... As PIC, he/she has the final word on safety of any flight. Airline regs probably require the flight crew to make this request more then anything else.
There's definitely differences in the FAA regs between 91, 135, and 121. Someone could make a chart, but the 135 and 121 will also include the particular Certificate holder's OpsSpecs.
Second,
And maybe Nate can back me up on this.. Old style cellphones and towers had a hard time segregating a single phone recieved by several towers at once. Technology and software has pretty much rectified that issue. So that is a invalid reason for not using a cell phone in flight anymore. Another good viable reason to prove cell phones used in flight is problematic is this........... Jackson Hole's runway is less then 3 miles for the peak of the Grand Teton range.. They tower up to 13,775 msl and a good 8000 feet higher then the runway.. On any given summer day there are 100+ people who scale it and 99% of the climbers will stand on the top and use their cellphones to tell all their firends they made it... I, on the other hand can disrupt the cell system / towers / computers if I make a call from 7200msl pattern attitude in my plane... The whole logic does not jive.....
Frequency re-use is still a problem, the higher a mobile device goes. Can't get away from physics... if your device is being heard by multiple receivers, you're lowering the overall number of available channels for ground-pounders to utilize. Other things like CDMA where the frequency is shared anyway, tend to help alleviate this, but I wouldn't say the carriers are spending big bucks on any special technological breakthroughs. There's just more available frequencies in use, compared to the "bad old days" of wide channel AMPS phones.
Thirdly and most obvious....
This sentence from the link..
§ 22.925 Prohibition on airborne operation of cellular telephones.
Cellular telephones installed in or carried aboard airplanes, balloons or any other type of aircraft must not be operated while such aircraft are airborne (not touching the ground). When any aircraft leaves the ground, all cellular telephones on board that aircraft must be turned off. The following notice must be posted on or near each cellular telephone installed in any aircraft...
Clearly shows the BS of the FCC's logic.... A balloon, that has no electronic equipment on board a cell phone can disrupt also has a ban on cellphone use.... Anyone care to explain that one to me .
Ben.
FCC is mostly interested in protecting the network and also is pointing out that license classes are based on a particular use model. "Fixed" and "Mobile" Ground Stations are generally what mobile phone devices fall in.
There are "cell phones" that work from aircraft and have been around for a long time... and the old GTE network...AirInc's stuff, and AirCell's system, and others... They have widely spaced ground stations, are on completely different frequencies, and are specifically built for aircraft use. Those systems were always what the FCC wanted the airborne solution to be.
If you want to get REALLY over-detailed, an aircraft can fly high enough that a cell phone on board may fall into both FCC, and the Canadian authority's jurisdiction, or Mexico... for example... and one agency may allow something the other doesn't. That stuff has to go to International Treaty to back the rules changes...
So... I dunno... I can't really "confirm" your suspicion that the system can handle it better these days -- but it does. The chances of a blanket lifting of the airborne cellular rules from FCC are about nil.