You're not the only one with heavy sighs and eye rolls when the flight attendants announce that phones must disappear in airplane mode during takeoffs and landings. I've asked myself a million times what turning phones off really does while dutifully (and somewhat grudgingly) shutting down my devices. "certain,one person may leave their cell phone on for a flight in good weather conditions, but whether you had 150 cell phones on during a flight, and the navigational error may be larger."Does it really form a dissimilarity whether just one person "forgets" to follow the directions? What does powering devices down actually effect? Several current and former pilots recently offered some interesting explanations for the rule on Reddit,and needless to say, after reading through their responses, and I will fortunately be turning off my phone every single I seize off and land - no more questions asked. Current pilot and Reddit user w3woody sums it ups:"The concern by the FAA is that certain electronic devices (like cell phones) have electronic components which may interfere with the VOR receivers that many airplanes used to expend to navigate the US airspace,as well as the ILS (Instrument Landing System) receivers used to back airplanes navigate towards the landing strip. This is done through an overabundance of caution; normally there is no interference, though we did have one airplane in our flying club where a cell phone did screw up the VOR receiver (a VOR receiver is a type of navigation aid which transmits a signal that can be received by a special receiver in an airplane, and that allows you to determine your angle relative to the VOR transmitter)," he said. This basically means that cell phones can potentially get in the way of signals from a receiver to a transmitter, both of which are (obviously) essential to pilots.
Former pilot and Reddit user BoilerUp218 expands on the main points for why we have to turn devices off/put them in airplane mode, or saying that there can be:Interference to navigational equipment: Mentioned above.
Radio interference: Pilots can hear cell phone clicks over headphones which can cause them to miss directions from air traffic control - NOT good.
The scale of people using their phones: The former pilot says that on a good weather day,this may not be an issue because pilots can visually fly the plane and navigate the runway during takeoff and landings, but the less visibility there is, or the more they depend on the navigational equipment.
You can read his full explanation below,and see videos that support his points. Bottom line? Better safe than really sorry. Texts can wait!Comment from discussion ELI5: Why effect airlines ask you to turn off/airplane mode your phone during a flight when? Does it actually affect the flight?.
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Source: popsugar.com