Tristán White wrote:
I've been reading about this in various places, that they have found
out that private cellular mobile phones do NOT affect flight controls,
that this information is erroneous. Some report has come out.
Quote your source?

I doubt whether there has ever been a likelyhood of mobile phones
affecting the controls directly. However, it must be obvious that they
are a source of electrical interference. Everybody is familiar with that
bleeping noise on their hifi or PC when the phone rings. In fact, in
view of the amount of interference they cause, it's remarkable they are
approved to be used anywhere.

The energy bursts that mobile phones radiate could cause interference
on the voice channels used by pilots to communicate with ATC. A
misunderstanding between pilots and ATC caused by interference could
have fatal consequences.
Also, they could potentially interfere with the instrument landing
system. ILS uses groundbased transmitters operating in the MHz range. A
receiver onboard detects the centre of the signal beam and sends signals
to the autopilot to keep the aircraft centered on the beam. Interference
could cause the system to work incorrectly and send the plane off course
momentarily.
If mobile phones can conceivably be a safety issue in planes, I think it
is correct to err on the side of safety.
T.

Furthermore, I have also been told that the flight companies have
always known it's not dangerous, but that they have PRETENDED that
it's dangerous so that people don't use the expensive onboard phones
that you get on long-haul flights (International Roaming is cheaper
than these rip-off phones).

I wonder whether all the flight companies knew it was a scam and
clubbed together, or whether only a couple of them knew and the other
companies simply followed suit.

So I wonder whether in the light of all these revelations, whether we
will now have all those announcements removed? Or will they try and
brush it under the carpet and hope that not a lot of people find out
about the little scam, and end up continuing with the subterfuge? Or
will they come clean and let people use their private phones? Or will
they come clean but give another reason for not using private phones
(eg noise pollution)? Interesting isn't it!

Also, will people who were fined for disobeying regulations, such as
that guy who got arrested for texting "I love you" to his wife while
on a flight, will be able to claim their money back....

Furthermore, will this see the price of onboard phones come down
dramatically (it took me a while to come back from the shock when I
got my credit card bill back after calling my wife from the Virgin
phone in my seat when flying London to Jo'burg in 2001!)

T'will be interesting!!!

TRISTÁN