That's kinda the point I'm making--they're telling us that the cellular
modem providing me the ability to surf the net--and its associated wi-fi
radio is just peachy, but mine isn't? And for a long time people used
cell phones on planes with no ill effect, and they still do elsewhere,
but in the U.S., a cell phone might *bring*down*a*plane*?
Color me skeptical. A bit like taking off my shoes is making me safe.
Sheesh, I fly a lot and I detest the T.S.A. and all the crap associated
with the false sense of security they're pissing people off so much to
instill. Maybe it's getting to me. :-)
I'm all for them disabling cell phones, just for the reasons you
mentioned--a plane full of yammering jackasses would make flying
intolerable. You ever seen the absolute douchebaggery that takes place
when the wheels hit the tarmac a dozen plumbing salesmen from Valdosta
have to urgently check in to see what vital messages they've missed on
the 45-minute flight to Atlanta and to make sure someone--anyone--knows
they're important enough to have a cell phone? You can't even wait
until the thrust reversers have finished screaming? F&(#ing really?
No, as far as I'm concerned a CDMA and GSM band jammer on all flights
would just just fine, rendering phones ineffective anywhere within 100
feet of an aircraft. I assume such a thing must not be feasable,
because I assume thousands of people have offered to pay extra just to
fly on planes so equipped and airlines are nothing if not profit-seeking.
And I'm not discounting what Randall said, or that you never know what
could happen when radio waves start flying around. The network at my
office can't make it through a full day without horking up a lung and
it's at ground level and the building's not moving fast enough to turn
me into jelly. Just that I'm over having some nasty skank shrill at me
for no goddamn good reason when I fall asleep on a 6:00 a.m. flight and
forgot to shut of my phone while we were waiting to push away from the
gate and s/he's feeling intelligent because it's noticed the light's
blinking through the pocket of my pants. It is infinitely more about
some miserable slag having a power trip than it is keeping anyone in any
fashion safe.
But still, PVC will blow up on you. I've seen it.
On 10/13/2011 7:47 PM, David Hillman wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Oct 2011, Scott wrote:
>> I dunno, I won't use pvc for air anymore. I have, however, flown
>> 250,000 miles (at least) having forgotten my phone was powered up in
>> my backpack, and the plane has never so much as hiccuped. I tend to
>> be skeptical that a $200 million flying radio is going to be equipped
>> with anything that has any issues with a phone's cellular radio. I
>> mean, most planes in the U.S. are rarely more than 40,000 feet off
>> the ground, and most of the flights I take are at about 20,000 feet.
>> That's four miles. My phone easily has a range of four miles, which
>> means all those phones on the ground are emitting something that
>> could interfere with the plane too. The cell phone frenzy is one of
>> those things that will convince us that we were retarded in 30 years.
>
> It just so happens that the company I work for puts cellular modems
> on commercial airliners. It's how we deliver broadband internet to
> passengers. We have over 2000 planes flying around the country every
> day, squawking back and forth to the ground via standard cellular
> technology. We have been doing so for 3 years.
>
> The prohibition against cell use on planes is for passenger
> comfort, and security, not technical reasons. Largely the same reason
> we can't provide VOIP on commercial lines, but we can on private
> planes, and they can in Europe.
>
> --
> David Hillman
>
> PS You'd be surprised how often commercial jets crack 40k, but it's
> irrelevant. We get hundreds of miles of range from our antennas.
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