Technology

You should still set airplane mode when airborne for other reasons besides interference with the aircraft. For one, you'll save your battery. It takes a lot of "juice" for your device to search for cell towers that are likely out of reach. You may also want to avoid connecting to a tower outside where you have coverage. E.g. for a flight from Anchorage to Minneapolis, maybe you don't want to connect to Canadian cell towers and potentially receive charges in another country. Obviously this depends on your plan limits. But, yeah, it's not really about protecting the airplane, in most cases

If airplane mode really mattered they wouldn't let you even have a device

Absolutely still turn it on though, or your phone will be pushing it's power to the max screaming for cell towers the whole flight.

But sure if you want to pop it on when you get close to landing, you can usually get a signal that low.

I remember once when I accidentally turned on my phone during a flight instantly the plane started to plummet out of the sky. The phone slipped out of my hands and I groped for it while people and service items flailed around the cabin as the plane tumbled. Finally I slipped out of my belt and grabbed it. With only 10,000 feet of altitude to spare, I finally managed to get the phone to go into shutdown mode by holding the power button down. The plane righted itself immediately, and I slipped the phone into my pocket quietly and kept a low profile for the rest of the flight.

It’s not only the myth, is the airplane crew reminding you of that every single flight. Both on takeoff and landing.

The most amusing part is that I highly doubt any staff on a commercial flight is capable of telling if people have actually enabled airplane mode or not. It’s an honor system in a country where half of the people don’t even have the decency to try to mitigate the spread of illness.

I disagree. I don’t see the point of having my phone waste battery searching for a cell signal. Airplane mode saves your battery.

I could just turn my phone off entirely but then I can’t listen to music.

For me it has nothing to do with aircraft safety.

If Airplanes were that sensitive to RF, terrorists would just be using that to down planes over major cities or during landings at airports.

Aeroplane mode is incredibly, incredibly useful, I use it a lot and I'm almost never on an aeroplane haha.

Last flight I was on had a no electronics at all rule

A person was told they couldn’t have their kindle out during the flight

You shouldn't risk it, because no one knows how planes work.

Everyone should leave airplane mode on whenever and wherever possible.

Airplane mode isn't for them, its for me having a quiet moment.

Airplane mode is still useful for lots of other things. I'd be pretty upset if the feature was removed.

Believe it or not Vodafone will charge you for air and sea usage quite a lot. So be careful if you use them.

A lot of things are annoying about flying but one of the top is when phones are ringing and beeping unanswered (or worse, answered) non-stop.

I think airplane mode is more for the sanity of the crew than anything having to do with safety any more.

If you have the Steam Deck you should be using Airplane mode. Wifi kills the battery, and as an added bonus - you can use your PC Steam Library and your Steam Deck simultaneously if one is on Airplane Mode.

How hard is it for someone to go without their damn phone for a flight. Probably can’t connect to towers anyways when you’re up in the air. That business deal or meeting can wait. For once in your life just do what someone else asks of you before taking off and stop bitching. Or drive or take a train.

Imagine the number of plane crashes if this wasn't the case.

I use it at home. Preserves battery.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted a study in 2012 that found nearly zero conclusive instances of aircraft disturbances from cell phone usage.

Now keep in mind, federal law requires you to follow the aircraft crew’s instructions, which includes turning on airplane mode.

In 2013, the FCC got a new chairman, Tom Wheeler, who wanted to shake things up by enabling phone calls and data usage on flights.

“Allowing cellphones on planes sounds like the premise of a new reality show: ‘Cage Fighting at 30,000 Feet,’ ” said Oregon Rep. Greg Walden to the Washington Post at the time.

However, regulators and airlines pressured the FCC into keeping the rule in place, out of fear that in-flight phone calls would create chaos in the sky.

Nowadays, you can get wifi on almost any flight for a small fee, allowing you to make voice calls, surf the internet, and play video games.

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