Cell Phone Use

bstratt

bstratt

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Canuck
From the Canadian Flight Rules posted on AOPA:

"Use of Cell Phones:

Cell phones are actually legal to use while in the air in Canada. Nav Canada encourages pilots who have had communications failures to use a cell phone to contact the control tower or other ATC facility. Phone numbers are listed in the Canada Flight Supplement under the Comm section for each airport.

ATC will only accept calls that are due to an equipment failure or an emergency and will not accept routine non-emergency calls from pilots trying to by-pass the ATC radio frequencies.

It is completely legal to use cell phones while flying for arranging rides from the airport, booking hotels or ordering pizza to be delivered to the airport that you are inbound to in Canada. Contrary to rumors, there has never been a reported case of airborne cell phone use causing cell phone system malfunctions. Due to the risk of cell phone interference with radio equipment, use of cell phones is not recommended while flying in instrument meteorological conditions."

Why can't we follow suit?
 
They may be legal to use in Canada, but getting a signal may be quite another story. Most cell antennas are set up so their main lobe is aimed at the ground, not the sky. If you happen to forget to turn your cell phone off before flight, take a look at it before you do turn it off, and you'll almost certainly see "no signal" unless you're at pretty low altitude.

And legal or not, I'd fire up my cell and call for help in a heartbeat in a radio or electrical failure situation in the USA or anywhere else.
 
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And Y'all probably know this, but the FCC is considering a plan to make them legal for inflight use here in the States by 2006. When that was announced, AOPA suggested they make it legal for GA immediately.
 
And as a frequent victim of the airlines, the last thing I want is some long play salesman in the next seat talking at the top of this voice all the way across the country. My Bose headset takes out a lot, but it won't stop that. My vote on this change is a resounding NO!
 
On the news this morning, "American Airlines and Verizon last week tested internet access from the air without interfering with the aircrafts navigation equipment."
As the reporter said "If they can do that, why can't you use a cellphone.".

-report was on WCVB, Channel 5, Boston (thebostonchannel.com) -

But one has to agree with Ghery. There are a lot of people in the world who are oblivious to the world around them, inconsiderate of the world around them, and in general, do not know how to use a telephone, screaming at the top of their voice making everyone suffer.

Whether cellphones work in the air or not shouldn't be the question. It should remain the captain's privilege to allow or not their use.
 
Just think, with high-speed internet on the plane, you can take Vonage or SkyPe with you....
 
The FCC/FAA plan involves setting up cells in each airliner with a non-cellular link (satellite, I believe) into the telephone system from there. It does not anticipate the cell phones in the planes linking directly to ground cell sites. While this would legalize the use of a cell phone in your airplane, it will not help you make cell phone calls in flight unless you spend 5 or 6 digits on a cell site to be installed in your plane or you fly low enough to stay in the cell site antenna patterns.
 
Ron Levy said:
or you fly low enough to stay in the cell site antenna patterns.
Click to expand...

Does anyone know how low that is? Or maybe alternatively, how high you go to lose service? I presume this would be AGL, not MSL as the towers are on the ground. I would guess that at 3 - 4,000 AGL you'd still be okay but don't really know.
 
bstratt said:
Does anyone know how low that is? Or maybe alternatively, how high you go to lose service? I presume this would be AGL, not MSL as the towers are on the ground. I would guess that at 3 - 4,000 AGL you'd still be okay but don't really know.
Click to expand...

Flying pipeline they worked from 100' AGL when I was calling in a leak, sometimes even had to climb for line of sight. I recall them working at 3000' as well. I haven't flown over land higher than that in a long time so I'm not sure about higher.
 
Ron Levy said:
The FCC/FAA plan involves setting up cells in each airliner
Click to expand...

Cool, that sounds like much better coverage. I can usually spot an airliner anytime I look up into the sky!
 
Ghery said:
And as a frequent victim of the airlines, the last thing I want is some long play salesman in the next seat talking at the top of this voice all the way across the country. My Bose headset takes out a lot, but it won't stop that. My vote on this change is a resounding NO!
Click to expand...

While I dislike the phone-screamers as much as anyone else does, the fact that I don't like something is not a reason that it should be banned.

Cellular phone use is prohibited while airborne because the FCC wanted to protect the spectrum from interference. The FAA has not addressed the issue because , thanks to the FCC, it has not needed to. If airborne use does not cause interference with towers or navigation equipment, then what would be your justification for banning it? That people are too noisy?

I'll take the salesman over the screaming child who always gets the seat behind me any time. At least the salesman might be quieter if I ask him politely.

Finally, most commercial flights I've been on the past few years have had phone service available. While the price is high, it is far from unaffordable for those who need to transact business aloft. Yet how often do we see anyone use those air-phones?

Jon
 
4CornerFlyer said:
While I dislike the phone-screamers as much as anyone else does, the fact that I don't like something is not a reason that it should be banned.

Cellular phone use is prohibited while airborne because the FCC wanted to protect the spectrum from interference. The FAA has not addressed the issue because , thanks to the FCC, it has not needed to. If airborne use does not cause interference with towers or navigation equipment, then what would be your justification for banning it? That people are too noisy?

I'll take the salesman over the screaming child who always gets the seat behind me any time. At least the salesman might be quieter if I ask him politely.

Finally, most commercial flights I've been on the past few years have had phone service available. While the price is high, it is far from unaffordable for those who need to transact business aloft. Yet how often do we see anyone use those air-phones?

Jon
Click to expand...

I'll see your screaming child and raise you one. 6th grader helping mother deal with twins in diapers. Said 6th grader in the seat between my wife and me (wife - window, me - isle) passing todlers with full diapers across me. I spent a fair amount of that trans-continental flight in the back talking with the FAs. Nothing any of us could do, the plane was full.

I've used one of those phone once. The day of the Nisqually earthquake in Puget Sound. Heard about it on my flight from BWI to DEN from the guy sitting next to me. Whipped out my credit card and called home. Got the answering machine. That told me everything I needed to know. The house was standing and we had power.

I still don't want a long play salesman in the next seat...
 
Ghery said:
And as a frequent victim of the airlines, the last thing I want is some long play salesman in the next seat talking at the top of this voice all the way across the country. My Bose headset takes out a lot, but it won't stop that. My vote on this change is a resounding NO!
Click to expand...

Another good reason to fly yourself.:goofy:
 
sere said:
Another good reason to fly yourself.:goofy:
Click to expand...
Yeah, but last week's meetings were in Brasilia, and that's just a bit too far in a 182 or Arrow... :D
 
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