# Is it really dangerous to keep your cell phone on while the plane is landing or taking off?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 3, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902 "2012-12-03T21:32:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/41 "2012-12-05T01:58:24Z")

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> [@TokyoBayer](#):
>
> I’ve read articles on this before, and what I fail to see is any conclusive evidence that the particular device was at fault. “We’re getting noise in our headsets, umm, it must be someone has a personal electronic device on.”

Or, more likely, “We’re getting noise in our headsets; there was a lady making a cell phone call. Must have been her.”

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/42 "2012-12-05T02:18:57Z")

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> [@DrCube](#):
>
> I’ve been flying several times a year since I’ve owned a cell phone and never turned it off during the flight. I’m willing to bet good money I’m not the only one. It just doesn’t make a difference.

I’ll fess up. I put it in airplane mode, but I never bother turning it off during take off or landing, just stick it in my pocket.

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/43 "2012-12-05T03:16:09Z")

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> [@misling](#):
>
> …dangerous or not, I dread the day when they lift the ban and the cabin is filled with idiots yapping …

I’ve heard this cited as a reason for the ban - specifically, the already low chance that people pay much attention to the safety briefing would decline to near zero, and if a problem happens during takeoff or landing (the most likely times) it would be nice not to have 70% of your passengers distracted by their electronic gizmos.

I’m definitely in the camp that believes that if there were sound evidence of a real hazard, it would be stunningly irresponsible to deal with this by asking for voluntary compliance.

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**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/44 "2012-12-05T03:41:00Z")

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> [@TSBG](#):
>
> Although every flight I’ve been on in the last couple years, passengers are asked to turn their phones COMPLETELY OFF–not just put them in Airplane mode–during takeoff and landing. Maybe to make sure they’re really off during the most sensitive parts of the flights? I want to say I’ve been on about 40 flights in the past couple years, mostly Southwest but some other carriers too.

I’ve been on six flights in the last two months, different airlines, and the flight attendants announced that phones must be turned off, that flight mode doesn’t count, so I turned mine off.

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**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/45 "2012-12-05T05:49:37Z")

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and then to confuse everyone…

In flight internet service!

[http://www.delta.com/content/www/en\_US/traveling-with-us/in-flight-services/products/technology.html](http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/traveling-with-us/in-flight-services/products/technology.html)

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**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/46 "2012-12-05T10:49:08Z")

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I fly about once a month and I never turn my phone off. I know two (physicist/) aerospace engineers from the TU Delft who say it’s a nonsensical rule not based on evidence. They don’t turn their phones off either. That’s enough for me.

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**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/47 "2012-12-05T11:11:13Z")

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All the objective testing I’ve done 😉 in my car points to the conclusion that while a cellphone/gsm doesn’t cause any equipment to really malfunction, it occurs quite often that phones interfere with audio equipment. Presumably also the headsets of pilot and crew.  
I can imagine that if all passengers left their phones on the chance of serious interference with the pa-system, the onboard intercom or the radio would be about 100%.  
One active phone: meh.  
300 phones: mayhem.

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**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/48 "2012-12-05T11:27:21Z")

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> [@The\_Librarian](#):
>
> All the objective testing I’ve done 😉 in my car points to the conclusion that while a cellphone/gsm doesn’t cause any equipment to really malfunction, it occurs quite often that phones interfere with audio equipment. Presumably also the headsets of pilot and crew.  
> I can imagine that if all passengers left their phones on the chance of serious interference with the pa-system, the onboard intercom or the radio would be about 100%.  
> One active phone: meh.  
> 300 phones: mayhem.

It depends on the distance between the phone and the audio equipment, though.

I know! Let’s make first class turn their phones _off_ (since they’re closer to the pilots’ headsets,) but allow [del]steerage[/del] economy flyers to keep their phones on! 😛 😃

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**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/49 "2012-12-05T11:59:20Z")

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> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> No one is saying that a cell phone **will always** cause problems. What is being said is that in **rare** circumstances, they can cause problems. Just because it doesn’t happen often doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. And the reason it doesn’t happen often is that aircraft systems are specifically designed to be as immune as possible from interference.
> 
> Saying cell phones are perfectly safe because planes don’t fall out of the sky every day is a lot like having a room filled with a thousand guns, only one of which is loaded. You can walk into the room and pick up a random gun and point it at your head and pull the trigger, and most of the time, nothing will happen. But it’s rather foolish to say that it’s a perfectly safe thing to do based on the fact that it usually doesn’t turn out bad.
> 
> As for actual cites, I can’t find a cite for either specific case I mentioned. The loss of communication incident was a yahoo news story about a year or two prior to 9/11. It’s probably not archived anywhere on the net. I don’t recall exactly where I read the story about the thrust reverser deploying. The evidence for the thrust reverser was admittedly a bit circumstantial. An incoming call was being set up at the exact time the thrust reverser deployed, and there was no other reason found for its deployment. Admittedly it’s not anywhere near 100 percent proof of cause and effect.
> 
> But, for cites that cell phones can cause problems, those are easy to find.
> 
> For example, see this report, from the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) (warning, PDF):  
> [http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAPAP2003\_03.PDF](http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAPAP2003_03.PDF)
> 
> That’s a six year period, and only 35 incidents were reported. As you noted, just about every plane these days takes off and lands with a cell phone turned on. So it’s clearly not something that happens often.
> 
> On our side of the pond, there’s this report from NASA (again, PDF warning):  
> [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20010066904\_2001108092.pdf](http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20010066904_2001108092.pdf)
> 
> This covers a longer time period, and includes interference from any “PED” (personal electronic device). It lists a total of 130 incidents. 39 of those are rated as “critical”, and 40 were rated as “less severe” (the rest were unrated). In other words, half of those rated weren’t just minor annoyances. They were things that really could have led to major problems.
> 
> A chart on page 16 of that document lists the following equipment affected (I’m only showing totals since I can’t easily copy and paste the entire chart):
> 
> Navigation: 112  
> Communication: 7  
> Autopilot: 7  
> Yaw Dampers: 1  
> Engine Fuel Controller: 1  
> Speed Brake Auto Deploy: 1  
> Autothrottles: 1
> 
> A chart on page 20 lists the type of device responsible for the incident. Laptops and cell phones were both tied for the top two spots (I personally would have expected cell phones to rank a lot higher).
> 
> The paper mentions an ASRS database of incidents. You can probably hunt that down and get more recent data. NASA may have a more recent version of that report available somewhere as well.

Ah…I see. Post hoc ergo propter hoc, even when it is absolutely not reproducible.

Once the airlines got an idea in their punkin heads that cellphones “in rare instances” might cause problems, some of them never got it out of their heads.

But I think the real cause of all those malfunctions is a malfunctioning pacemaker on board, and I feel they should go investigate that first.

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**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/50 "2012-12-05T13:10:10Z")

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> [@kayaker](#):
>
> The last time I flew Charlotte to St Martin, my phone was in my bag, inadvertently left on the entire time. I had a mini seizure when I realized, as we deplaned.

Ditto when I flew from Newark to Stockholm via London a couple of weeks ago.

> [@misling](#):
>
> Whether it’s dangerous or not, I dread the day when they lift the ban and the cabin is filled with idiots yapping about their boring lives & businesses through the whole flight.

So true. It’s bad enough taking the underground.

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**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/51 "2012-12-05T14:19:54Z")

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> [@Chief\_Pedant](#):
>
> Ah…I see. Post hoc ergo propter hoc, even when it is absolutely not reproducible.
> 
> Once the airlines got an idea in their punkin heads that cellphones “in rare instances” might cause problems, some of them never got it out of their heads.

More likely the FAA and CAA are very taken with the phrase ‘better safe than sorry’.

Based on the way airlines generally treat their passengers my personal view is that they themselves really don’t give a monkeys and would be delighted to trim the rule announcements and enforcement from their staff rostering and immediately fire 1/5000th of their cabin crew.

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**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/52 "2012-12-05T16:13:46Z")

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I doubt there’s been a single commercial flight within the past 10 years that did not have at least one cell phone on during takeoff/landing and yet, surprise, nothing has happened.

If cell phones were actually any kind of danger, they’d force you to check them.

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**Author:** ![Carlarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Carlarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carlarm)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/53 "2012-12-06T04:46:56Z")

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Wrap your cell phone in aluminum foil and this will shield transmissions from it.

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**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/54 "2012-12-08T10:36:41Z")

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> [@misling](#):
>
> Whether it’s dangerous or not, I dread the day when they lift the ban and the cabin is filled with idiots yapping about their boring lives & businesses through the whole flight.

That day may be coming sooner than you think.

[FCC Urges FAA to Allow Gadgets During Airline Takeoff and Landing](http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/fcc-urges-faa-gadget-usage-takeoff-landing/story?id=17908174#.UMMWV1l9B1E)

> [@](#):
>
> FCC chairman Julius Genachowski has sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Michael Huerta, urging the agency to adjust its rules and allow for electronics usage during all phases of airline flight.
> 
> [snip]
> 
> In August, the FAA announced that it would be reviewing or taking a “fresh look” at the policy. It came after reports that electronics didn’t cause interference with a plane’s electronics.

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**Author:** ![aesop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@aesop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aesop)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/55 "2012-12-08T17:27:49Z")

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I have a cell phone and a blackberry and never turn off either one on flights. The first few times were by mistake. Since then, I just can’t be bothered. I stash the mobile devices in my bag on the way through security, and that’s usually where they stay until I deplane. The one thing I have learned is to turn the data feed on the blackberry to “off when roaming”. Otherwise your bill tends to skew to the high side by the time you land in another country! I’m with the other skeptics in the thread – if cell phones were an actual danger to the plane, they wouldn’t be allowed on board.

aesop – who has been on 500+ flights since the year 2000

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**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/56 "2012-12-09T22:24:00Z")

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You guys are all overlooking something rather important in this whole process: certification.

All equipment onboard an airplane is certified either on the Type Certificate or on Supplemental TCs. In other words, there is engineering and paperwork to support the entire design, including wiring harnesses, communications and avionics systems, etc. These things take a long time to certify, and the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of planes you might encounter hit their design freezes long before the iPhone was invented, and in some cases even before the first cell phone hit the market.

The laws of physics being what they are, electromagnetic interference is a real phenomenon, and it is considered for every device on board an aircraft. You can shield against it, or rearrange components to prevent it when you design, but how on earth do any of you expect Boeing to have thought of your laptop back when they came up with the first designs for the 737? I can assure you, even with updates, large parts of the planes leaving the factories today are per designs set on paper 30 or 40 years ago. I can say this because this is true of the planes I work on - I regularly pull out engineering drawings that are older than I am (I’m 31) that define some part of the wiring, structure or functioning of the aircraft.

So, basically, you’re all clammoring for certification of technology that was not forseen and that even if we worked exclusively on determining whether or not iPhones affected comm systems on the CRJ1000, we’d still be looking at aa couple of years worth of work, for each and every generation of the phone, not to mention the same amount of work for all the Nokias, Samsungs, LGs, HTCs, etc etc etc.

The industry is trying to catch up, but there’s a ton of work to do and it will take time. I’m sorry some passengers feel they can’t be away from their phones for a couple of hours, but it’s really not crucial to the operation of the aircraft. I know for a fact that I’ll commit much more time on the engineering of fixing a jammed trim acuator than I ever will dealing with the bloody printer on a business jet.

It’ll happen (though I really, really hope they ban actual voice calls… I hate listening to loud passengers jabber on) but it might take some reengineering of the planes in order to do it. If shielding is needed or other changes to the aircraft design, that will take time and money to incoroporate (costs likely passed to the passengers, who will bitch about that too, most likely).  
Just a couple of weeks ago, I created the engineering for a ground stud. A new avionics component is being offered on a given plane type, but EMI testing showed that the only electrically powered part of it, the back light (it’s a pneumatic component), caused adjacent instruments to flicker and fluctuate. That’s it. Turning the light on caused instrument failures. So a half dozen instruments have to be rewired with shielding if you want this new component. Guess who pays for that? Not the airplane maker, I can assure you.

Sorry, this has turned into a bit of a disjointed rant. It’s just that it’s not easy to say “here’s new technology, let us use it whereever we want!” because that new technology wasn’t considered in the old stuff and bad shit can happen. For the record, from a Risk Assessment perspective, failed communication/avionics systems during take off and landing are (mostly) considered to be either High Risk or Catastrophic, in terms of worst case possible outcome. Even with odds of 10^-9 per fleet flight hour, that is a “must address” issue. Which is why, in the case of cell phones, it is addressed as “ban cell phones” rather than trying to do all the work to qualify the iPhone 1, just in time for Apple’s release of the iPhone 5. It’s very, very hard to keep up.

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**Author:** ![loquetis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8baadc/32.png) [@loquetis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/loquetis)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/57 "2012-12-11T16:13:14Z")

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A former flight attendent friend of my wife’s says that the technology for cell phones changes so fast that the faa can not test all of it to insure that it won’t disrupt communication between the tower and pilots.  
Another intresting fact. since 9/11 cockpits are now built like panic rooms and once engaged the doors will not open nor can be opened til after the plane has landed and the piolets have to exit the cockpit out of the window or a tiny hatch.  
“Ummmmm Captain I bumped the panic switch” :smack:

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**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/58 "2012-12-11T16:36:10Z")

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Standard equipment right now in my 1979 plane is a box that sits on the dash right above all the avionics and creates a wifi hotspot for my iPad to connect to so I can see all my maps on the iPad in addition to the weather radar. None of that affects my equipment or my ability to talk to the tower.

You know what does? Whenever I get swept by the radar when I’m near an airport with one of the big dishes I get a buzz in my headset and can’t hear the air traffic controller for a second. I find that slightly ironic.

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**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/59 "2012-12-11T17:17:35Z")

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> [@misling](#):
>
> Whether it’s dangerous or not, I dread the day when they lift the ban and the cabin is filled with idiots yapping about their boring lives & businesses through the whole flight.

Because shortly thereafter, someone is going to have aboard an illegal cell phone jammer just so they don’t have to hear “_the cabin is filled with idiots yapping about their boring lives & businesses_ …”

At that point will a jammer cause problems for flight communications and flying capabilities?

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**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2012, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-dangerous-to-keep-your-cell-phone-on-while-the-plane-is-landing-or-taking-off/642902/60 "2012-12-12T09:42:56Z")

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I fortunately don’t have to fly every other week like I used to do.  
But the horror of a plane filled with cellphone users would make me want to buy a set of these: [noise cancelling headphones](http://reviews.cnet.com/headphones/psb-m4u-2/4505-7877_7-35405855.html)

> [@](#):
>
> Could you imagine 100 or more people on a flight each having conversations at various decibel levels? The result would be a constant buzz of conversation; a cacophony of awfulness. I would rather poke out my eyes than sit next to a business person talking about work for five hours. Or even worse, teens gossiping with their friends on a nonstop flight across the country. I don’t think I’m alone and I think that an already cranky flying public would be sent over the edge should cell phones be allowed during flight.

[— from a pretty good blog entry on this subject.](http://landlopers.com/2011/04/24/real-reason-cell-phones-allowed-planes/)

Now, the question would be, are noise-cancelling headphones a ‘personal electronic device’?  
What about an [insulin pump](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_pump)?  
Or a pacemaker?

I get a little irritated when we, the public, are treated as a bunch of idiot cows that are herded from here to there and back as if we were not intelligent enough to understand reason. It smacks of absurd theater to force us all to take off our shoes and belts and be subject to search of all of our person and our belongings just to have the privilege of being shoehorned into a metal cylinder with several dozen other semi-irritable passengers. But imagine the level of ire that would arise if these self-same people were allowed to talk (loudly) on their cellphones throughout the flight.  
I imagine an aviary of squawking [Myna](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myna) birds all speaking simultaneously and gradually increasing their volume in response to increasingly irritating background noise.

I fully support a cellphone use ban on planes. If you are on business, your lab or office should know and your calls should be diverted to a message informing incoming callers as to your status. If you are flying for leisure, then checking back home every hour probably isn’t a good idea no matter how much you love the rest of your family that didn’t come with you on holiday (or vacation). If you are fleeing from justice, then maybe you should consider that cell phone traffic is traceable.

But, I am a bit cranky around hundreds of relative strangers, and I imagine many others are.  
In other words, YMMV.

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