More security theater, in the air
Recently I was on yet another flight, trying to get some e-mail done. This time, however, I was answering e-mail offline on my SmartPhone. Of course, the phone was in flight mode so the radio was off. I wouldn't want to "interfere with the aircrafts navigation and communication systems." Needless to say, this was not nearly sufficient for the flight attendant, who proceeded to lecture me on how important it is that all cell phones be turned off lest they "interfere with the aircrafts navigation and communication systems," and presumably cause the plane to crash, sending all of us to a premature, fiery, and particularly violent death.
Curiously, however, a few minutes afterward, while I was listening to music on my WMA player I suddenly heard the tell-tale interference from a GSM cell phone. Turns out the guy next to me had forgotten to turn off his Palm Treo! HORROR! We must surely be heading into a death spiral any second now!
As you may be able to tell from the fact that I am actually alive to write this though, there were no terrorists yacking on their cell phone, thereby causing the plane to crash, on this particular flight. In fact, the mere notion that a device carried by 98% of the people on the flight could cause a plane to crash is ludicrous in the extreme, particularly considering that about 93% of those people are probably incapable of properly turning the device off. Talk about another case of security theater. Even the Transportation Security Administration - national enforcer of security theater - apparently does not consider cell phones a threat since they still allow us to bring them on board aircraft. Maybe this will all stop as soon as someone figures out a way to crack the battery case and use it as a deadly weapon?
At any rate, I decided to check how much trouble this particular flight was really in. I turned on my wireless network and bluetooth on my laptop. I am such a rebel! The funny thing was that the really bright blue light shone the same flight attendant that was worried about cell phones in the face about 6 times and she never seemed to see much of a problem with it. I then proceeded to scan the ether a few times to see who was communicating. I found three different wireless networks, and two bluetoth devices advertising themselves. The bluetooth devices were even advertising their owners names. Maybe I should report Stacey and Tom to the TSA? They must clearly be terrorists, using small, cheap, radio transmitters in a blatant attempt to bring down a commercial airliner!
Cell phones typically operate on frequencies like 800 MHz, 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, and 1.9 GHz. Both bluetooth and 802.11b (my laptop is old and does not have 802.11a or g) operate on 2.4 GHz. I'm not a radio engineer, and maybe there is something special about the cell phone frequencies that allows them to crash aircraft while the 2.4 GHz hobbyist band does not; but I doubt it. I think the fact that every single flight in the world probably has at least one Stacey or Tom on it, and probably several, recklessly leaving their bluetooth devices turned on is proof positive that there is absolutely zero risk posed to air travel safety by cell phones or any other small radio transmitter. Heck, SAS and Lufthansa, and maybe others too, now offer ridiculously expensive wireless networking on board.
Clearly, this is just another case of security theater, acted out by people refusing to accept the obvious and question their fundamental beliefs about the things they learned years ago, which are so clearly untrue.
Comments
- Anonymous
January 20, 2006
I, too, have wondered how it is that planes have safely taken off and landed with cell-phones in luggage and carry-on without having been turned on (I know I've unpacked a cell-phone or two and said "oopsie!").
The most plausible explanation that I've come across is that the cell-phone ban has more to do with the commercial realities of running a cell-phone service through which you are travelling at about six times the usual maximum speed, changing cells rather rapidly, and at a sufficiently steep angle that several neighbouring cells all think they're the closest to you.
Picture an ice-skater, gliding across the ice, illuminated by spotlights. If you light her from the opposite corner of the rink, she's lit in profile, which isn't very flattering. So, you need to track her with several lights, each of which has to turn up or down so that she's mostly lit by the closest light.
Now put a jet-pack on the skater, and imagine the complication of trying to cue the right lights up and down in time.
Another reason I don't much buy the theory of "cell-phones interfere too much" is that there is a whole heck of a lot of other electrical phenomena going on in the air that would cause havok. Remember those big bright sparky things that make the loud noise during storms? - Anonymous
January 20, 2006
The "problem" with using cellphones on an airplane is not about security. A cellphone connects to a "cell" and is handed-off to the next "cell" as the user travels.
When you are in an airplace -- you connect to too many "cells" simultaneously. - Anonymous
January 20, 2006
http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=1216&jid=AE1CF5E9EXCBD1FE79AA2466479B7X7C&productId=176840&platformId=1&productType=2
or http://makeashorterlink.com/?S1F54218C
Can we ask if they can port it over to Windows Mobile 5? - Anonymous
January 22, 2006
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
January 23, 2006
We had the same ban in the US actually on radio equipment in the hospital. I did have an incident where a cell phone was claimed to interfere with a in-utero heart rate monitor, but I think there was something else involved. - Anonymous
January 25, 2006
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
January 26, 2006
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
January 27, 2006
There are two agencies that regulate cellphones in airplanes.
The first is the FCC. It is illegal to use cellphones from an airplane because it floods the cell towers and they can't decide which should take the call.
The second is the FAA. The applicable rule is:
Sec. 125.204 Portable electronic devices.
(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, no person
may operate, nor may any operator or pilot in command of an aircraft
allow the operation of, any portable electronic device on any U.S.-
registered civil aircraft operating under this part.
(b) Paragraph (a) of this section does not apply to--
(1) Portable voice recorders;
(2) Hearing aids;
(3) Heart pacemakers;
(4) Electric shavers; or
(5) Any other portable electronic device that the Part 125
certificate holder has determined will not cause interference with the
navigation or communication system of the aircraft on which it is to be
used.
(c) The determination required by paragraph (b)(5) of this section
shall be made by that Part 125 certificate holder operating the
particular device to be used.
Paragraph (5) basically says that the airline gets final say of what is and isn't allowed. In particular, the airline would have to demponstrate that your device "will not cause interference with the navigation or communication system of the aircraft on which it is to be used."
Since the airlines can't possibly test every device you could bring on board, we have the current policies.
The FAA has a doc here as well geared to the consumer: http://www.faa.gov/news/news_story.cfm?type=fact_sheet&year=2005&date=0805 - Anonymous
January 27, 2006
Matt, that's interesting. So the only reason laptops are allowed is probably the fact that passengers would revolt otherwise, right? There can't be any way the "Part 125 certificate holder" can have any more assurance about laptops than cell phones.
Tim, and Steve, don't misunderstand me. I don't want to talk on the phone on a plane. The ban on talking on the cell phone is a great idea, but I fail to see why it must be related to an overall ban on the use of a smart phone so that I can play Mahjong on the plane! Oh, and I also would like them to change the announcement on interfering with the air crafts communication and navigation system to this:
"Welcome on board Northwest Airlines flight 7, with service from Tokyo to the sunny city of Seattle. Please remember to set your mobile phones to 'flight mode' and ensure the ringer is set to 'vibrate,' where all mobile phones should be locked for all eternity. Any passenger making any undue noise during our journey, including, but not limited to vapid, thoughtless conversation, will have their cell phone confiscated and thrown out a window, and the passenger in question will spend the remainder of the flight in the cargo compartment, together with all the other annoying passengers we collected on the way over here." - Anonymous
January 30, 2006
Here is a nice summary of the problem and possible solutions:
http://news.com.com/Cell+phones+to+take+flight/2100-1039_3-5727009.html
I don't see a resolution until the airlines can profit from it, however. - Anonymous
January 30, 2006
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