[NatCh]

Flying the Cellular Skies: EU okays use of mobile-phones above 3000 meters

For those who haven't already seen this on the evening news, the European Union has given the go-ahead for a plan to allow use of personal mobile phones on flights once they get above 10,000 feet. Chaos to ensue shortly, I'm sure.

Apparently Dubai-based Emirates Airlines started doing the same thing last month, but didn't get the media attention.

From the Associated Press:

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — You can use your cell phone in the skies over Europe later this year under new rules that will allow air travelers to stay in touch — and raise the cringe-inducing prospect of sitting next to a chatterbox at 30,000 feet.

But don't expect to use your phone on a U.S. flight anytime soon.

The decision Monday by the European Union makes the 27-nation bloc the first region in the world to scrap bans on the use of cell phones in the sky. The EU insists the change will not compromise safety.

Cell phone calls will be connected through an onboard base station — think of a miniature cell phone tower — linked to a satellite and then to ground networks. A flight's captain will have the power to turn off service anytime.

Phone service will be blocked during takeoff and landing, EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said. That means using your cell phone will fall under roughly the same restrictions as using your laptop or iPod.

EU officials also say the system has been thoroughly tested. They say the calls will not interfere with flight navigation and will have additional safeguard to protect against terrorism.

As you might imagine, not everyone loves this plan.

Meanwhile, travelers are already expressing concern about another kind of disruption — noisy passengers. The friendly skies are one of the last refuges against shrill ringtones and yapping callers.

"If they use a mobile phone on long distance flights, it would be an inconvenience, especially at night," said Stein Smulders of Halle, Belgium, who commutes by train.

"But what about safety" you say? "Don't those nasty phone signals make planes crash?" The FAA is still holding to that line, but the EU says they have that little problem licked.

On European flights, installing a base station on the plane will allow calls to go directly to a satellite system, preventing phones from wreaking havoc with flight instruments by sending out signals indiscriminately, EU officials said.

I admit that I'm a ways from the day I earned my Electronics Engineering degree, but I seem to remember something about broadcasting being, well, broad. As in not directional (or discriminate, however that applies). But apparently in the EU (or at least over it), you can use a base station to suck all thos nasty broadcast signals into one spot so they don't bother anything.

Oh, maybe this clears it up:

Installing small base stations on planes helps ensure phones won't give off strong signals trying to connect with a tower on the ground. But Dave Carson, co-chairman of an RTCA Inc. committee studying wireless safety on planes for the FAA, said there was still a risk that a phone might try to connect with a ground tower.

Well, maybe a little.

Full story here, and a quick Q&A here.


Is this a final answer to the question of whether cell phones interfere with airplanes' systems? Probably not. Probably not even a little.