Here’s Why You Need To Put Your Phone On ‘Airplane Mode’ When Traveling By Air

In Ghana and also most parts of the world, traveling by air comes with several rules and regulations. If you have ever traveled by air, the cabin crew will announce to all passengers to please turn off their phones or to switch it to airplane mode. In this article, we will be learning why such announcement is being made to passengers.

To understand this, lets first explain what airplane mode is, airplane mode is a special type of mobile network settings in every smartphone that shuts off all phone connections, be it cellular or wi-fi network, when your phone is in this mode you can’t receive or make any calls, send or receive any SMS or even browser the internet.

Now that you understand what airplane mode is let us examine why passengers are always advised to switch to airplane mode, according to research, you’re told to do so because of the signal your phone gives out, when in a plane you’re out of the reach of any telephone tower, so your phone tries to locate the closest mobile network connection, and it does this by sending electrical signals rapidly in search of these cell towers.

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And we know that a plane travels at a very fast speed, so when your phone rapidly sends these signals it gets to block the frequencies across different cells, this then causes interference with operations, this is why the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) placed a ban on the use of in-flight cellular usage during a flight.

In addition, when your phone is sending electrical signals while searching for the closest mobile network, the pilots might be hearing some annoying high-pitched interference in their headphones while they are communicating with the Air traffic control (ATC). It should also be known that GSM/CMDA technologies make use of time-division multiplexing which automatically lock out all devices traveling at high speed.

So on a final note, you’re told to turn on airplane mode on your phones to prevent interference with a mobile network that is on the ground and not that it will interfere with the aircraft systems which might cause a crash.

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON’T TURN IT OFF

Some (often old-fashioned) cell phones send this signal on the same frequency as certain aircraft equipment, which can have an impact on the aircraft’s aircraft. Fortunately, aircrafts are now better protected for this.

In some countries, such as Ghana, the use of Airplane mode is even mandatory and you risk a fine if you do not.

Another explanation that goes around is that it is for your own safety. If something happens on the plane, you are not distracted by your mobile phone and you make more conscious choices. Especially during the take-off and landing. You are always asked to put away all devices, so that you have full attention to what is happening around you.

WHAT ABOUT IN-FLIGHT WI-FI

Most airlines now offer in-flight Wi-Fi as a paid service. So why doesn’t that interfere with aircraft communications? Since Wi-Fi functions with satellite signals rather than radio signals, it’s not connecting to cell phone towers on the ground. That means if you’re willing to pay for it and potentially put up with slow or spotty connection speeds you can stream video, surf the Internet, and download data while you fly.

Still, on domestic flights, at least, you can’t make calls using platforms like Skype, WhatsApp, or Facebook. We suspect that has a lot to do with industry concerns about distracted and disruptive passengers, especially those who opt to conduct all their calls on speakerphone.