A study by Carnegie Mellon University, in conjunction with those wacky folks at the FAA, has indicated that the use of mobile phones can pose dangers to critical equipment on aircraft. Dr. Bill Strauss of the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, says his study indicates the interference from these devices is higher than expected.
“These devices can disrupt normal operation of key cockpit instruments, especially Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, which are increasingly vital for safe landings,” Strauss said.
Until the study’s results appear in the IEEE’s Proceedings, we’ll just have to wonder about a few things:
- How could they know the aircraft’s GPS receiver was affected if they were monitoring it only from a receiver in a carry-on bag?
- Did they have an independent method of determining their position like LORAN?
- Were the researchers in constant contact with the pilots?
- Are the pilots trained in GPS technology to the point they can recognize faulty behavior?
- How does one measure from an overhead bin the effect of a cabin transmitter on electronics in the cockpit?
This sounds like a sham to me. The press release is vague with details. Nowhere does the press release specifically state that cellphones were observed to affect aircraft systems. It simply states that the risk is “greater than expected.”
Show me where a properly functioning mobile phone, transmitting on the 900 MHz or 1900 MHz bands at a puny 600mW at its strongest, affected the reception of a 1575 MHz GPS signal coming in from an external aircraft antenna. Show me! Any harmonics at 1575 Mhz must be significantly weaker than the primary signal. That’s assuming such a phone is shoddy enough to cause harmonics, which is a big if since undoubtedly it never would have gotten FCC approval.
How can a device be safe to hold right next to your brain and at the same time dangerous enough to endanger an aircraft? How does this make sense?!?
It’s either one or the other, folks. Somebody’s lying to us.
They want to ban the use of cell phones on airplanes to force you to use the in-plane phone system (at a highly overinflated price).