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Walkabout: Plain Dangerous
Proof that mobiles phones are a threat to aircraft
By DAFFYD RODERICK
June
30, 2000
Web posted at 12:30 p.m. Hong Kong time, 12:30 a.m. EDT
On a recent flight from Manila, my seatmate pulled out his mobile
phone, punched his speed dial and began giving a colleague instructions.
After a moment he hung up and put his phone back in his pocket. I
asked him if he'd missed the part of the safety presentation about
mobile phones disrupting the plane's avionics equipment. Obviously
the warnings from the cabin crew and on the seatback card hadn't penetrated
his comb-over. He said it was an urgent call, and that there was no
proof that phones caused a problem. After all, no plane had ever plummeted
to earth because of a mobile phone, he stated. I smiled at him and
admitted that while I didn't know of any such crashes, I also didn't
want to be the first victim.
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These days cabin crew are spending more and more time convincing passengers
that "no phones" means NO PHONES. It's a war I want them to win. And
I'm not just talking from a safety point of view. Imagine the assault
on your ears as 100 people scream into their phones, trying to tell
Aunt Bess where they are. No thanks.
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But my seatmate was wrong. There is proof that mobile phone transmissions
interfere with avionics equipment. The British Civil Aviation Authority
(CAA) earlier this year tested two Boeings on the ground at Gatwick
Airport and found that, indeed, vital systems were being interfered
with by phone signals. Imagine the results if the plane was airborne.
Actually, better not, it may not be a pretty sight.
This is the first empirical proof that mobile phones are a clear-cut
hazard. The tests found the following:
•Interference levels varied with small changes in the location
of the phone in the cabin
•Internal doors in the aircraft, made of composite material, did not
block the signal
•Passengers in the path of the signal reduced the signal, so the number
of passengers on the flight could affect the level of interference.
The experiment also showed that phones not in use -- but turned on
-- caused system problems as well. The CAA recommend, like most airlines,
that once the engines have been turned on, phones should be completely
switched off. Furthermore, the tests backed up anecdotal stories from
pilots that blamed a host of "mystery" problems on the use of phones.
They included false warnings and alarms, malfunction of systems, interference
in pilot headsets, and the waste of crew time and energy in dealing
with passengers using the damn things.
The CAA says it is going to conduct further tests -- so they can say
conclusively how specific aircraft systems are affected by phone signals.
I think we better not wait for those results -- and be bright enough
to simply switch off our phones. But if you just have to use it, you
could at least step out of the plane. The wind is hell on a comb-over,
but it would be the polite thing to do.
For more information, click here.
(www.caa.co.uk/about/press_releases/pr_958651205.html)
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