Windows mobile and flight mode

[little john]

Hello all,

Has any tried using flight mode when on a plane? Is a smart phone an approved device when flying if it is in flight mode? Anyone with any info on this it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
~john.

[spokrie]

I recently flew Northwest Airlines, with my MPx220. During the flight, one of the crew gave me stern warning that all phones and devices that send ane recieve data, bla, bla, bla need to be shut off and stowed. I explained the phone was in flight mode and that the transmitter was shut off. I was then told they had no way to prove that, and asked me to shut off the phone. So rather than being escorted off the plane in cuffs at my final destination, I opted to turn it off.
Now this was an older crew, so that may have had something to do with it, but on that flight I was not allowed to have the phone on.

Scott

[ARW]

I flew Hawaiian Airlines a month ago and the message the crew relayed to passengers was that we could use devices that were capable of turning off RF components. They didn't use the word flight mode, but it was pretty clear that they knew the difference between a mobile phone and a multi-function PDA or smartphone.

[WPB]

I flew on Southwest last week. There pre-flight anouncement said "flight mode or game mode" for phones and PDA's was not acceptable. I don't remember the exact words but they sure seemed to imply it was an FAA rule.

Interestingly they didn't say anything about being sure the WiFi was turned off if you were using a laptop.

[Jerry Raia]

It's just a dumb rule. They have opted to make people turn phones off in flight period. What worries me is when they catch on to phones looking lilke PDA's.

[vincenzosi]

Somewhere in the not-too-distant future, they're going to bar everything from flights because they won't know what is and isn't a PDA with wireless or a phone. You can write it down and credit it to me so that when it happens, I get proper credit :-)

[cortez]

i always switch to flight mode when i'm flying... on recent AA flights the flight attendants said "flight mode" was ok as long as it wasn't broadcasting a signal.

[Jerry Raia]

Somewhere in the not-too-distant future, they're going to bar everything from flights because they won't know what is and isn't a PDA with wireless or a phone. You can write it down and credit it to me so that when it happens, I get proper credit :-)

Or the blame :lol:

[vincenzosi]

For giving them the idea or taking down a plane because I forgot to turn off my WiFi? :-)

[Beowulf]

The FAA actually made a statement basically saying that cell phones have not proven a significant threat to any equipment, particularly since most of the sensitive flight equipment is in use during take off and landing around airports which are unavoidably close to high volumes of cellular signals from users on the ground.

At the end of the day they just say cell phones don't work well in planes irregardless, so they are leaving the ban to be extra safe.

There is a company that wants to install cellular "hubs" on planes and collect the roaming fees from passengers, but it will probably take years to convince the FAA to do it.

As with flight mode the FAA says that since they cannot regulate and approve a phone's flight mode capability, they cannot allow it to be a legitimate bypass for the rule.

Its all a bunch of BS really; I know I left my phone on by accident a few times and I'm sure other people have and I've never heard a pilot say "I'm getting cell phone interference I'm taking the plane down!"

At the end of the day it depends on how much of a terd the flight attendents want to be. I would be surprised if they had enough insight to identify a PDA phone, but I'm not surprised about the smart phones; which is really too bad, since they are perfect for those long flights.