Is it really necessary on aeroplanes to turn off all electronics during take off and landing?

Question

Is it really necessary on aeroplanes to turn off all electronics during take off and landing?

Answer 1

No actually, it does not do anything whether your iphones on airplane mode or not planes of this day and age, not a chance.

And as you will see it only clogs up the networks on the ground which annoys the technicians but they'll cope! Probably just a myth to scare the passengers so they make the technicians down on the ground alot easier.

hope it helped :)

Answer 2

As this is topic where people tend to tell their own opinion instead of facts and research results, we should anatomize the myths first. As some of the answers already stated correctly, I will repeat - airliners are shielded from such interference. Aircraft must stand electrical storms, microwave energy, cosmic radiation and all sort of signals. Never any incident nor accident related to that, and we know people use portable electronic devices (PED) all the time when they shouldn't, video recording, texting etc. Calls are sometimes picked up by certain antennas installed on the aircraft and you can hear the signal via headset. How about WiFi and interactive PTV's? No interference found in normal operations as signals are at totally different levels. Localizer, glide slope/DME, TCAS, VOR, everything use different transmission levels. Don't believe - go to cockpit and call home, see for yourself. Multiple tests by power, radiation and frequency were run by both official and independent agencies, including airliners, Boeing, Airbus, FAA and so on. I have actually read many of the results and tested it myself when possible. I encourage you to do the same. Some non-US airlines not only allow but actually support calling and texting from the air ($$$).



Few times there were cases of A/P disconnection, false caution alarm, course deviation and other random strange occurrence in flight. Sometimes the electronic devices from the passengers were to blame. Boeing bought them, brought them to labs, set aircraft systems to flying configuration and observed. They would fail to recreate the interference every time, except the obvious ones, that wouldn't happen in real life anyway. Note that most researches on the subjects are done years ago. Today PED are smaller, safer, use less energy and emit less radiation in addition to all fancy electronics installed on board.



Nevertheless, there are several good reasons why the use is prohibited, and should stay prohibited in the critical flight segments.



First, passengers should listen to safety instructions and not play Angry birds.

Second, when taking off, they should be aware of environment in case anything goes wrong.

Third, anything loose is a possible missile in the airplane, PED included. That's why flight attendants will ask you to put everything not on you in the overhead bins.



Interference is always possible. It is not completely disregarded.

- at landing and taking off more sensitive equipment is used which could be distracted by large electromagnetic radiation

- emergency and backup systems emit on the similar frequency as common PED, they should be ready to use at taking off or landing (more than at FL370)

- older aircraft - older equipment - much greater risks, especially old GA aircraft. PED avoidance recommended. PED interference proven to be existent, especially with XHF and ADF.

- GPS signal interference is recreated in labs after intensive high-power output. Not likely to happen in normal, commercial operations. Otherwise we would watch it on the news every day. Remember, for a serious problem to arise in a flight, history of air accidents tells us there has to be a critical chain of events, not just one cell phone call.



In the US, FAA's stance is "better safe than sorry". And that's good. For now.



Note: It is much simpler and cheaper just to stick to (valid) recommendations than to test each and every existent portable electronic device on the market with each and every existent aircraft on the market in each and every segment of flight. To allow something like PED, you have to prove it is safe to use, rather than anything else. Who has the money and time to deal with such "trivial" matters?



The bottom line - don't use PED if told not to, apart from safety redundancy/margins, there is always a possibility signal may be picked up. And possibilities are taken very seriously in this business.

Answer 3

In terms of safety, no, it's not necessary to turn electronics off during takeoff and landing. The only reason you are told to do so is that it's required by Federal air regulations (in the United States—I'm not sure about Australia, so I can only comment on the U.S. here).



The regulations were written at a time when avionics were more primitive and less shielded, and when there was some concern that electronic gadgets in the cabin might interfere with aircraft systems. That turned out not to be a problem, and no airplane has ever had an accident because of interference from electronic gadgets. Today, systems are even better shielded (mainly to protect themselves from each other!), and so there is even less reason for concern. However … the regulations are still on the books, and so they must be obeyed.



Ironically, the FAA itself encourages airlines to "look the other way" during cruise flight, allowing electronics to be used, even though the letter of the law prohibits this. The FAA has an Advisory Circular (advisory but not binding, as the name implies) that tells airlines when they are allowed to let the regulations slide. That's why you're allowed to use electronics during cruise flight, instead of having them completely prohibited for the entire trip.



The relevant regulations are 14 CFR § 121.306 for airlines, and the Advisory Circular is AC-91-21.1B.

Answer 4

I will take a different track here. "Is it really necessary...", yes because that is the law. If we all make up our own rules we simply don't have any authority, just ourselves, and that doesn't lead to a good society result in most cases.



Now as to whether it makes a flight problem, no one really has a definite answer. You would have to test with a plane load of texting, phone using passengers. One passenger with one item isn't the issue, 150-200 all inside all on the phone at the same time makes for a noisy plane (to the ears and electronically). How well different planes handle that can't easily be tested! Even two identical planes might have a different result, it only takes ONE loose ground wire for issues to appear.



In normal situations having a phone / device running does not create an issue. Should the laws be changed, well as Dirty Harry would say "do you feel lucky"? It would only take one incident to take a few hundred lives, is it worth it? Can't you live without your electronics for a few minutes during takeoff and landings. As for phone calls, just imagine a plane load of people on the phone all at the same time! I can do without that personally!

Answer 5

No. Just put your android phone in aeroplane mode.

Answer 6

Simple answer is...when you use your phone and other similar devices...it may interupt the working of tools in plane...our devices emit and take frequencies...same with the tools of plane....so the mixture may result in improper notification to the plane

Answer 7

Yes, i asked this from a crew member on board and he said that it was important coz the signals these devices produce interfere with the signals of plane, i.e, the signal between the plane and the control room

Answer 8

Yes it is.Unless you want them to lose connection to the flight control during take off and landing

Answer 9

No, it doesn't have any effect on commercial aircraft (nor most private aircraft for that matter). All the susceptible electronics are shielded to prevent radio interference. Hell, half the time the pilots themselves have electronic stuff on inside the cockpit. Furthermore, the aircraft itself emits orders of magnitude more radiation than any laptop or cellphone will.



The only reason I put my phone on airplane mode during long flights is to prevent my cellphone battery from draining while it tries to search for a signal.