Dear Mr. Milloy,
The Wall Street Journal article (Oct. 5), about cell phone usage in flight not being the hazard airlines claim it to be, is misleading.
I am an airline pilot. As such, I have received the occasional update on the state of knowledge concerning the use of electronic devices in the passenger cabin of aircraft.
The problem with many electronic devices, like computers operating at common speeds of say 250mhz, is the combination of frequency, which happens to be in the same frequency range as some of our navigation equipment, and the "harmonic" amplification occurring inside the aluminum tube called the fuselage, or "body" of the plane.
Keeping in mind that interference is a fairly recently suspected culprit for numerous "glitches" witnessed by countless flight crews, and as such the science is still developing, several preliminary studies have shown significantly stronger signal strength at various "harmonic" points along the "tube" than the electronic device is even producing. This implies that, at just the right distance from an antenna or navigation component, interference with navigation might, at the very least, be a concern.
I have seen numerous instances of "needle deflection" occurring without explanation, which don’t normally occur. I have flown with many pilots who have asked flight attendants to investigate the cabin, to find indeed someone was using an electronic device, and when turned off, indications returned to normal.
When executing an instrument approach to 50 feet with 600 feet of visibility while traveling at 145 knots, precision is vital. Do not expect me as your pilot to be sympathetic with your impatience to call your broker via cell phone or to play Nintendo.
Remember, today’s aircraft make far more use of electronic automation than aircraft of yesteryear.
As for cell-phones specifically, interference isn’t the reason crewmembers have been told they are prohibited in flight. We’ve been told the reason comes from the FCC. Airborne use of cell phones would result in "blanketing" vast areas of "cells", far beyond the reach they were intended, and potentially causing overcrowding of the cells, so to speak. Airborne cell phone usage is not an airline imposed restriction, it’s a government imposed restriction.
My airline fought to receive a relaxation of the rule, and won. We now may allow our passengers to use cell phones on board at the gate (previously prohibited on board at any time), or during any prolonged ground delay, but never in the air. Again, this is a government restriction, not an airline one.
Believe it or not, the airlines (the good ones anyway) are on your side, and could care less about the minuscule pittance of revenue coming from the rare use of onboard Flightphones. We are a service industry, and as such fight hard against government imposed mandates that reduce service.
Randy Oliver
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