Alan wrote:
I just took my new 3G for a flight. gpstracker application works very
well to track flights on google earth. Also gives Long/Lat speed as
well as altitude every 5 seconds. Check it out.


It might be fun, but it is also quite illegal.


47 cfr 22.925 states:

22.925 Prohibition on airborne operation of cellular telephones.
[snip]

Aside from the use of "airplane mode", I seem to recall a discussion about
this a while ago wherein it was concluded that modern mobile phones don't
meet the FCC's definition of a "cell phone". The reasoning behind this
regulation is that using a cell phone in flight plays merry havoc with the
cell network due to seeing towers farther away than the network is
designed for. But modern networks work differently and are immune to this
problem, and I *think* the conclusion was that the regulation does not
apply to them.

Anyone know more about it? I'd like to know more than my patchwork
memory....

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon