Cellphones on planes? (Please don't let this happen)

[bluestateguy]

I am usually in a bad mood when I fly. If I was in the wrong mood, and I was forced to sit next to some corporate blabber mouth yakking about his latest projects, I could really see myself ripping the phone out of their hands.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/business/04cell.html?ei=5090&en=70ea3a44c99b2f86&ex=1286078400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 3 - Security lines, weather delays and equipment failures make flying a burden for many. For Jason Green, it is a slice of heaven - virtually the only place he is not bombarded by phone calls and e-mail.

"Being on a plane has become a mini-retreat for me," said Mr. Green, 32, executive vice president of Touchstone Pictures. "Long international flights are like vacation. No phone, no e-mail and no guilt for being unreachable."

But Mr. Green's no-obligation oasis may soon disappear. Federal regulators are reassessing the rules barring phones in the air even as some international airlines are gradually introducing Internet access to their planes. And two European carriers - TAP Air Portugal and BMI, a British company - said recently that they would become the first to proceed with cellphone service, in three-month trials on flights within Europe next year.

Of the thousands of comments the federal government has received on the issue, many focused on the fear of being stuck next to someone jabbering away. But a different concern has emerged: the dread of hearing one's own voice on the cellphone.

[aquart]

1. NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I rode in on the LIRR tonight and it was dueling ringtones all the way. Just a little piece of hell.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Am I the only one thinking of 9/11 and the people on that plane

calling their families on their cell phones?

I can't use my cell phone on a plane because of that.

[Catrina]

4. I just posted the same thought

I hadn't read your post first. Were cell-phones banned after 9/11? If so, why? Or were there never any cell-phones on planes at all? I have asked that question many times, but never really got an answer.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. I have seen them used on planes since then

and I wondered the same thing. I thought that was taboo. But I am also surprised to see them used at hospitals these days. That used to be a big no-no.

[wakeme2008]

12. they were not allowed before 9-11

transmitting electronics are a no-no on planes because of they could interfere with the planes electronics.

[Catrina]

3. That's strange, because on 9/11

didn't the passengers on the plane, especially Ted Olsen's wife, (didn't he say she had her cell-phone in her pocket-book?) communicate by cell-phone with relatives and 9/11 operators? If cell phones are not allowed on planes, how could that be? I always wondered why no one got the cell-phone bills from that day!!

[radwriter0555]

6. No cell phone bills, no credit card bills, when he then switched his story

to say she'd used the sat phone, which of course, only can be used with a credit card...

*scratches head*

Do yuh think a republican coulda lied????

[radwriter0555]

5. HEY, bab's olsen's phone WORKED on the plane!!!

And no one complained about HER yammering to her husband.

*cough*

[Catrina]

7. Yes, but could cell phones

work at that time on a plane going as fast as they were, and were they allowed on the plane? The OP says there is a ban on cell phones on planes.

Remember the 'let's roll' passenger, he talked for nearly 20 minutes to the 9/11 operator when the plane must have been flying really fast, yet the operator didn't seem to have any problems.

[happyslug]

9. The issue is NOT speed but height

Remember on the planes involved with 9/11 the planes had dropped from their normal flight height of over 20,000 feet to less than 5000 feet (This is so the pilots could use land navigation to get to their targets, you can use landmarks to navigate at 5000 feet or lower, but you can NOT at 20,000 plus feet). Thus the Planes used on 9/11 all dropped down to below 5000 feet.

At 5000 feet (i.e. less than a mile high) most cell phones on a plane can pick up on any cell phone towers in the area and thus work. At 20,000 plus feet the distance to the ground is to great(over four miles above the ground), at such height the plane itself has to have a cell phone "Tower" to transmit the Cell Phone calls to the ground.

Thus people on the four planes involved in 9/11 could use their cell phones. The planes were low enough for the cell-phone to connect to cell phone towers. On most planes the plane is to high to connect unless you have a cell phone "Tower" on the plane itself. It is the later that is being considered NOT connecting to the towers on the ground.

[Swamp Rat]

10. I just sing or talk to myself like a crazy person, in multiple languages.

:D

It scares them into complete silence. :)

[DanCa]

11. Lol funny cell phone story

Durring Episcopal mass last year on Easter Sunday a cell phone went off. Reverend Jim said joking thats proof thats cell phones are evil. :rofl:

[ProdigalJunkMail]

13. i'll take that funny and raise you to hilarious

the pastor at our church was interrupted by HIS OWN PHONE ringing just after the service started. To alleviate his embarrassment (to make the whole thing a bit of a joke) he TOOK the call. It was the satellite campus calling in for something. He actually said, "I can't talk right now...I'm preaching. Do you want to say 'hi' to everyone?" Then, after hanging up he said to the local congregation, "They must start later than we do."

I have never seen someone so red!!! :rofl:

subjectProdigal

[B Calm]

14. What is to stop a terrorist from planting a bomb inside a cell phone

and activating the bomb by having someone call him?