ATA Airlines detains passenger for using iPhone in 'airplane mode'
Apparently putting your iPhone in airplane mode is not the digital equivalent of returning your seatback to the upright position.
Don't try to watch movies on an iPhone if you're flying on ATA.
(Credit: ATA Airlines)A flight attendant for ATA Airlines recently asked a flier watching a movie midflight on the way to Hawaii to shut off his iPhone, not for the perfectly reasonable reason that the man was watching the inane Jennifer-Love Hewitt vehicle I Know What You Did Last Summer, but because you're not allowed to use cell phones inflight. Casey, the iPhone user, told Consumerist that he tried several times to explain to the flight attendant that the iPhone was in "airplane mode," with all the radios disabled. But the flight attendants did not accept that explanation, and continued to insist that FAA regulations prohibit talking on cell phones when the cabin door is closed, despite the fact that Casey wasn't actually talking and the fact they were over the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
As happens with these things, people got huffy, tempers flared, and Casey eventually found himself talking to a few bemused policemen in Hawaii. He reported that the flight attendant changed his story several times, first telling police that the airplane wasn't shielded for any type of electronic device (although apparently everybody else's MP3 players were fine), then telling police the plane wasn't shielded for "ONLY (emphasis his) phones in airplane mode." Casey was allowed to go, and apparently was not sentenced to watch Heartbreakers in its entirety to get a better sense of what might have provoked the flight attendant.
I'm sure there's more to this story. I'm playing a game of phone tag with ATA, and decided to post and update later if I hear back from them. It also brings up a few interesting points.
First of all, "airplane mode" doesn't appear to be a universally defined state of being by the FCC, FAA, the airlines or the mobile phone industry, and perhaps it should. Apple's Web page on the iPhone's airplane mode clearly states, "If you turn on airplane mode, the wireless features of iPhone are disabled, and if allowed by the aircraft operator and applicable laws and regulations (emphasis mine), you can continue to use the non-wireless features after takeoff.
Some airlines explicitly state that you can use a mobile phone in airplane mode over 10,000 feet. Others don't get into it, and just say you can't use mobile phones while in the air. So it might very well be ATA's policy to prohibit the use of mobile phones under any circumstances, just like it's their policy to shoehorn passengers into seats best suited for those under 5 feet tall.
I also wonder if smartphones will eventually force the FAA to make a decision about the use of mobile phones during flights. There may be legitimate reasons to disable wireless networking or calling on airplanes, whether those are technical concerns both in the air and on the ground, or whether it's merely a nod to flyers who don't want to hear one end of a five-hour conversation. But there's an awful lot of things you can do with mobile computers that don't involve wireless networking, from listening to music or watching movies to playing games or even composing documents with an expandable keyboard. As long as people are allowed to use their iPods, laptops, and portable DVD players above 10,000 feet, it seems silly to prohibit the use of a properly silenced smartphone just because it also happens to be a phone.
But we're talking about airlines and the government, so silly things happen all the time. Some consistency on mobile phone usage would be nice from the airline industry, but I'd prefer they figure out an whole new operating model that actually works before taking on matters such as these.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
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This is a very silly argument to get in with a flight attendant, but I believe the law about following an airline employee's (with the Captain's authority) orders takes precedence. Fact is, until some legislation is passed (Passenger Bill of Rights), you give up many rights when you walk onto a commercial flight.
In defense of freedom it is not only your right but your duty to question authority, even though it may land you in jail.
Freedom is a responsibility, of which questioning authority when appropriate is a part.
Feel free to accept the meager amount of porridge in your bowl, I for one will be the first in line to say "please sir, a bit more".
The only possible equipment that could be remotely effected is the glide slope portion of the ILS receiver, since that is in a frequency band close to what the oldest analog cell phones used, but even then, it would have a low chance of interference. Most new cell phones use a completely different band and lower power.
The ILS is only effective below about 4000 feet, so cell phones could be permitted above 10,000 feet. I still think they should be banned for the simple reason that people that blab on them can't keep their voices low and such people are worse then terrorists.
As for "airplane mode" - well in that case, the device is no longer even a cell phone since the transciever is disabled, so there should be NO prohibition against iPhones in "airplane mode".
50 WiFi devices vs. 1 cell phone? Wrong battle FAA.
/makes for entertaining surfing on flight) but also fail to disable
bluetooth on newer pc laptops. I find a larger percentage of Apple
users tend to have their laptops in a flight mode so perhaps they
are more educated in what to do or it is easier but only half those
users disable these oft overlooked services. It just shows what a
crock these retro laws have become...
I don't think this is an ATA issue, but rather a stupid employee issue.
aformentioned gentleman, was because you flew out of hilo.
People on Oahu have, in general, have become very "high
makamaka" (snooty) and rude. The real aloha spirit, unfortunatly,
can only be found on the other islands (sans maui).
confuse an iPod touch for an iPhone. Should make for a fun
discussion.
Southwest has no problems. I asked a pilot and he said they tried 20 different GPS gadgets and decided they caused no interference. Couple of them have kiddded with me and said can we use yours - it's more accurate than the one in the cockpit -)
Alaska and others will not allow it - airline magazine specifically bans them.
Delta magazine is silent and most flights on it no one has bothered me. But one flight attendant brought her fat, red, ops manual and showed me fine print. "Tethered" GPS units not allowed. If I had a standalone Garmin it would be ok. As I got off the flight, the pilot scolded me. When I told him Southwest allowed it, he said he would report SW to the FAA. I was afraid to tell him his own Delta pilot colleagues had on other flights allowed it.
FAA says it has no jurisdication on the matter - it's individual airline decision.
In the end the pilot is the ship of the captain, and I will respect his decision, especially if fellow passengers are nervous about a gadget, but wish the airline industry had clearer guidelines about phones, MP3, GPS...
on the Garmin 396 unit we used in our airplane (color screen). It
can also be hooked up to a computer to install maps for the
regions you will be in to save memory.
It just goes to show you the IQ of some of the employees. I fly with
an avaitors watch on usually (pilots would spot it). They even make
one with GPS built in for boaters.
surreptitiously operated a cell phone, PDA, or other small electronic
devices. So how many airplane crashes have been attributed the
use of personal electronic devices? How many airplanes got lost
because the iPod threw off the navigation.
cellphone please switch it into airline mode or switch it off once
the doors have closed" into their safety talk.
cause issues with the 115-135 bands the airlines use.
I could legally turn on my ICOM hand held (FAA radio, recieve
only) in an airplane. The airlines wil tell you diffrently trust me.
If I brought on the transmitter (A1 model) that is another story.
You cannot TRANSMIT from the aircraft. It is the transmission
that may cause potential problems, how miniscule of a
possibility that poses.
(around 50Mhz) to take advantage of the off-the-shelf
demodulator chipsets available.
I don't think it's has as much to do with the frequency as it does
with the power level of the I.F.. Newer radios don't need to
produce as intense intermediate frequency signal as the older
generation radio did.
Of course, it has been a while since I played with radio theory...
(and it probably shows)
But again, I belive you do have to listen to the flight attendants, even if they are wrong...
passenger was using a cell phone, PDA, iPod, or laptop?
So it's probably better to just have a blanket ban on cell phones, even if they have non-interference mode.
the passenger use of cell phones, PDAs, or iPod/Zunes/RIOs
please point us to the FAA report.
I am going out on a limb and say that there is no electronic
interference problem from such devices, if their is prove it. The
problem would be from the dufus playing loud music through
speakers, ratchet jawing on the cell phone, watching porn where
the kid sitting next you can see it, or otherwise being obnoxious
with the use of the device. There may also be a part where the
airlines want to sell you calls from installed cell phones or rent
you headphones for installed entertainment systems.
OTHERWISE, all a terrorist would need to do is get on an airplane
and then turn on his Nokia N95 to crash the plane.
If there really was a problem we could not be allowed to bring
such devices into the cabin.
If the airlines don't want us using such things while flying then
they should have the balls to say it is their policy and if you
don't like fly on another channel. Don't hide behind the skirts of
the FAA and FCC
I'm a pilot, and the only "bleedover" I have ever encountered was with Nextel phones. When a Nextel phone is active, it is not uncommon to hear a series of fast clicking noises over the comm radios, but they do the exact same thing to lots of other communications devices that aren't mounted in aircraft.
Having a legitimate professional concern, I asked a staffer at the FCC exactly why the ban on cell phone use was in place, and her response was that a cellular telephone used on the ground is usually capable of reaching only 3 to 5 cell towers due to terrestrial obstructions, buildings, etc. In an airliner at 25,000 feet, a cellular telephone could potentially reach so many carrier towers that it could impact system availability for other subscribers.
As far as the incident in Brazil, there was obviously not an FAA/NTSB report on the incident, but I do recall reading a translation of the final report, which stated that a passenger stored her cellular telephone in her briefcase without turning it off, and that the autopilot of the airliner put the plane into an uncommanded dive which only ended when the flight crew turned off the autopilot. Apparently, they turned the autopilot back on for some strange reason (the moral of THAT story is that you should NEVER get on a plane with a Brazilian flight crew, but that is another discussion), and they were rewarded with another uncommanded dive, which was once again interrupted by turning off the autopilot.
I believe the claim that the cell phone was responsible is absolutely preposterous. More likely, the Brazilian airliner manufacturing industry didn't want delays in certification of their airliners in the USA, so they made up a little fib about the cause of the incident. Very likely, there was an autopilot or pitot-static failure, which was manifested by the autopilot thinking the plane was too high. Thus the drastic dive. And again, how the autopilot placed the aircraft into what was essentially an unusual attitude is yet another discussion.
I have flown passengers that inadvertently left their cell phones on, and I have certainly never lost control of the aircraft as a result. It just isn't plausible.
Most aircraft avionics (comm radios, nav radios, VORs, DME, ILS/Localizer, etc) operate just above the FM band (109.0000 - 137.0000), so there is VERY little likelihood that an 800MHz/900MHz cellular telephone will cause significant interference.
The FCC regulation is not about aircraft safety - it's about cellular telephone providers with massively over-subscribed networks.
Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_on_aircraft for more information...
There has never, that I have heard of, been a documented case where a phone has interfered with an airplane. However, since the most critical times for a flight from the standpoint of interference are takeoff and landing, I can see their point on all electronic devices. However, if devices are certified (as all consumer elctronic devices area) to not interfere with a radio or television set in the same room, that has to be a pretty lousy design on the airplane to be subject to interference.
day (and the beginning too).
Next time you're in a restaurant getting lousy service, ask yourself: "If I was stuck in this restaurant for 3 to 4 hours, would I want them waiting on me?" Now imagine putting your life in their hands, or God forbid, that they worked for TSA.
Signed former ATA flight attendant
- What's silly is believing in made-up laws
- by joeonsunset October 14, 2007 8:21 PM PDT
- What law is that, may I ask? The one you mention about following the captain's orders and giving up your rights? Can you find it? Cite it?
- Like this Reply to this comment
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- Which law? This one...
- by pbuckner October 15, 2007 12:11 PM PDT
- Title 14 91.21, covering portable electronic devices. Basically,
- Like this
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (85 Comments)The law is that it's illegal to intimidate or assault the airplane crew in order to interfere with their duties. 49 U.S.C. § 46504.
you're not allowed to use ANY devices except voice recorders,
electric razors, hearing aids and pacemakers (...nice to know you
don't have to turn off that pacemaker...).
The exception is only if the "the operator of the aircraft has
determined..." that there is no interference.
When you're on the plane, it's generally up to the pilot: if your
device makes him nervous, you either don't use it, or you don't
fly with him/her.
That being said, I agree with early comment that we need a well
defined, commonly-understood "airplane mode", so pilots can
feel comfortable.