“Please ensure your seats are in the upright position, tray tables stowed, window shades are up, laptops are stored in the overhead bins and electronic devices are set to flight mode.”
The above is a statement any airline passenger in the U.S. has heard. That’s because the law requires all personal electronic devices (PEDs) to be placed into airplane mode for the safety of those aboard the aircraft.
Snopes readers asked us to examine why airline passengers are asked to put their phones in airplane mode. Research showed that this prohibition is in place to prevent cell phones from potentially interfering with airline navigation and communications systems.
But the rule may be antiquated and is considered by some to be irrelevant given increased technological advances in recent decades. So why are we still asked to put our phones on airplane mode while flying?
Cell Phones Communicate via Radio Waves
Cell phones communicate by transmitting radio waves through a network of fixed antennas called base stations, according to the World Health Organization. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said this is also known as radio frequency energy, which was described by the Government of Canada as a type of electromagnetic energy that is part of the electromagnetic spectrum. For example, human-made sources of electromagnetic energy include cell phones and microwaves, while natural sources include visible light or lightning.
According to Apple, airplane mode turns off all radios except for Bluetooth, so users can access their phone but it doesn’t produce a signal.
Current Regulations Prohibit the Use of PEDs Aboard Airborne Aircraft
In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) restrict the usage of cellular devices on civilian planes unless they are in “airplane mode.”
The FAA says this is because cell phone signals “could interfere with critical aircraft instruments.”
“When the mobile device is operating during flight, it can ‘see’ multiple cell towers at the same time, thus blocking frequencies used by these towers because they are being hit with far more activity than they were designed to manage,” said Richard Levy, an aviation consultant and former commercial and military pilot.
However, he added he has never experienced the suggested interference in his more than four decades of being a pilot.
Today, modern aircraft systems and electronics are “well-tested to ensure minimal interference,” Levy concluded.
But Is the Ban Antiquated?
Aviation navigation and communication both rely on radio services. PEDs can emit a signal within the same frequency band as the aircraft communication and navigation systems, which could create electromagnetic interference
Rules prohibiting the use of cell phones on planes were introduced to “protect against radio interference to cellphone networks on the ground,” the FCC wrote. But modern technology can be installed directly on an airplane to prevent such interference.
The FCC created frequency allocations or bandwidths that regulate and designate electromagnetic spectrum into different bands. This maintains that cell phones use a different frequency band than an airline might to avoid potential interference.
However, digital technology used today is more advanced than analog technologies of the past.
In the 1990s, Boeing conducted several tests and investigations to determine whether PEDs interfere with aircraft but was not “able to find a definite correlation between PEDs and the associated reported airplane anomalies.”
In 2013, the FCC proposed a rule that would give airline carriers the ability to allow passengers to use their mobile wireless devices, like cell phones, while flying over 10,000 feet. The FCC said it was “considering whether advances in technology no longer warrant – solely on a technological basis – the prohibition of in-flight mobile phone use.”
In November 2022, the European Commission announced that airlines operating in the European Union could “provide the latest 5G technology on their planes,” allowing people to operate phones as they would on the ground, according to a news release at the time. Cabins of aircrafts equipped with special network equipment, called “pico-cell,” would provide the service, which would “connect the users and route calls, texts, and data, typically via a satellite network, between the airplane and the ground-based mobile network.”
But as of this writing, the U.S. federal code still prohibits the use of cellular phones while aircraft are airborne.
Cellular telephones installed in or carried aboard airplanes, balloons or any other type of aircraft must not be operated while such aircraft are airborne (not touching the ground). When any aircraft leaves the ground, all cellular telephones on board that aircraft must be turned off. The following notice must be posted on or near each cellular telephone installed in any aircraft:
“The use of cellular telephones while this aircraft is airborne is prohibited by FCC rules, and the violation of this rule could result in suspension of service and/or a fine. The use of cellular telephones while this aircraft is on the ground is subject to FAA regulations.”
