Cell phones on GA aircraft

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in
oups.com:

Modern GSM phones don't seem to get any coverage at altitude. When I
had my CDMA phone I could send emails when I flow over populated areas.
Now, nothing.

-Robert



You don't have to go very high to be "at altitude" to not receive a
cell phone signal. Two years ago on July 4 at the top of the Stratosphere
tower in Las Vegas, I overheard several people remarkng how their cell
phones had roamed to analog to connect. My phone is CDMA and was not able
to pick up a digital signal, either on network or digital roaming while
analog roaming gave a solid signal. Excellent digital signal at ground
level.

--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)

In a previous article, Mxsmanic said:
how much of a glass cockpit you have. Will anyone admit to using
phones on a GA aircraft?

I can't get a signal at cruise altitude in the US. I can in Canada, but
I've never tried to make a call or even send an SMS.


--
Paul Tomblin http://blog.xcski.com/
Make backups before you try something new or interesting or experimental
or radical or if the day has a "y" in it.
-- Chris Hacking

Paul Tomblin wrote:
In a previous article, Mxsmanic said:
how much of a glass cockpit you have. Will anyone admit to using
phones on a GA aircraft?

I can't get a signal at cruise altitude in the US. I can in Canada, but
I've never tried to make a call or even send an SMS.


--


I can't remember where I read this, but I recall that Canadian pilots
were encouraged to use cell phones in case of lost-comm to contact ATC.

Andrew Sarangan wrote:



I can't remember where I read this, but I recall that Canadian pilots
were encouraged to use cell phones in case of lost-comm to contact ATC.


Like I said, with the analog cell phones (or at least ones with
an AMPS fallback) it worked fine but annoyed the system capacity.
This is how the guys on Flight 93 were able to reach the ground.

Unfortunately, my last two cell phones don't have that feature
and the analog ground stations are pretty much disappearing.
The FCC no longer requires the licensees to maintain analog
cellular.

I'm confused -- I thought in a previous thread you said you lived in
Paris? If so, why does the FCC matter? (Or am I wrong about where
you live...?)

Chris
---
Mxsmanic writes:
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?

--
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Christopher Brian Colohan wrote in
:

I'm confused -- I thought in a previous thread you said you lived in
Paris? If so, why does the FCC matter? (Or am I wrong about where
you live...?)

You are right Chris, but the dude lives in a simulated world *smile*

Allen

Christopher Brian Colohan writes:

I'm confused -- I thought in a previous thread you said you lived in
Paris? If so, why does the FCC matter? (Or am I wrong about where
you live...?)

With respect to aviation, I ignore the place where I live, and I think
only about the USA. Everyone else is too far behind.

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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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