Cell phones on GA aircraft

Mxsmanic wrote:
I know the FCC says you're not supposed to use cell phones on an
aircraft (even though recent studies show that such use does not
overload multiple base stations, as the FCC originally feared).
However, has anyone tried it on small aircraft? There is some concern
about cell phones interfering with avionics on commercial airliners
(the jury is still out for most scenarios), but I don't know if the
phones make any difference on a small plane. I suppose it depends on
how much of a glass cockpit you have. Will anyone admit to using
phones on a GA aircraft?


Yes, I will admit to it, having used cell phones on GA aircraft
equipped with both glass cockpits and steam gauges. For some time,
there was a big loophole in the FCC regulations. You could not use a
cell phone, but almost nobody owned a cell phone as defined by the
regulations. What people really had was PCS phones, and there was no
FCC ban on using these in airplanes for a long time. That changed last
year and the FCC now uses the same language for PCS phones as for cell
phones (no doubt because some of us were a little too noisy about this
loophole).

Coverage with a PCS phone is spotty in a GA plane and you are likely to
lose contact every couple minutes. They are best used in emergencies
(when nobody cares about the regulations anyway -- you do what you have
to do) or for short messages or texts to revise flight plans and tell
the FBO that you are going to be late. I think the FCC would rather you
use the phone for this rather than have somebody call out search and
rescue because you did not return on time.

One thing I find incredibly entertaining: after decades of scaring the
daylights out of passengers about 'dangerous' cell phones the airlines
are discovering that allowing passengers to use cell phones could be a
profit center. So the ban has been lifted in some countries, but the
passengers won't use the service because they are terrified of making
the airplane fall out of the sky. Plus, there is the usual backlash
from the anti-cell phone crowd who insist that use of a cell phone on
an airplane is at least rude and at worst likely to kill everyone on
board. Here in the Philippines the ATA prohibits the operation of cell
phones in aircraft and you are still briefed by flight attendants that
the use of cell phones interferes with avionics.

Cell phones are also prohibited by law in banks. You could be
imprisoned for six months for turning a cell phone on in a bank in the
Philippines. Apparently there is a concern that criminal gangs could
watch for large withdrawals of cash and then telephone confederates
outside the bank. Of course, the law does not prevent anyone from
simply stepping outside the bank to use his phone.

I am surprised that there have not been more restrictions on cell
phones. They are the tool of choice for terrorists to detonate their
bombs by remote control (we just had a bunch of them in the Philippines
a week or two ago). Plus, many of them have small cameras that could be
used for surveillance and gathering intelligence. They are almost
untraceable; you can use one once and throw it away. Really, perhaps
Homeland Security needs to ban the cell phone nationwide. That ought to
protect us.

cjcampbell writes:

One thing I find incredibly entertaining: after decades of scaring the
daylights out of passengers about 'dangerous' cell phones the airlines
are discovering that allowing passengers to use cell phones could be a
profit center. So the ban has been lifted in some countries, but the
passengers won't use the service because they are terrified of making
the airplane fall out of the sky.

I should think you'd have to hold the cellphone right in the cockpit
to make any difference at all to the avionics, and even then, I
wouldn't expect much of an effect. I can talk on a cell phone right
next to my computers (with the covers off), and they continue to run.

Cell phones are also prohibited by law in banks. You could be
imprisoned for six months for turning a cell phone on in a bank in the
Philippines. Apparently there is a concern that criminal gangs could
watch for large withdrawals of cash and then telephone confederates
outside the bank. Of course, the law does not prevent anyone from
simply stepping outside the bank to use his phone.

I guess calling the cops to report a robbery in progress is out of the
question, then.

I am surprised that there have not been more restrictions on cell
phones. They are the tool of choice for terrorists to detonate their
bombs by remote control (we just had a bunch of them in the Philippines
a week or two ago). Plus, many of them have small cameras that could be
used for surveillance and gathering intelligence. They are almost
untraceable; you can use one once and throw it away. Really, perhaps
Homeland Security needs to ban the cell phone nationwide. That ought to
protect us.

Cellphones are too widely used. The general public only accepts bans
on things that are not used by the majority of people. The real risk
(or lack thereof) is irrelevant.

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