Cell phone use in planes

It is still not clear whether the various calls placed from planes hijacked by terrorists on Tuesday were from cell phones or air phones. The latter are wireless pay phones built into some aircraft seats. Air phones don't interfere with cellular networks – but the effect of cell phones on commercial aircraft systems is a matter of debate.

U.S. Federal law prohibits the use of wireless communications devices once a commercial airplane leaves its gate – but passengers often disregard those rules.

According to industry experts, it is possible to use cell phones with varying success during the ascent and descent of commercial flights – and there is little, if any, evidence so far to suggest that the phones interfere with an aircraft's avionics or communications system.

Yet the Federal Aviation Administration stands by the ban on airborne cellular calls.

Evidence suggests that at least one of the calls placed from doomed passengers on last Tuesday was from a cell phone.

Those calls may provide authorities with some clues as to what was happening aboard the aircraft in their final minutes. If it is determined that cell phones could provide some small amount of deterrence to would-be hijackers, that would add one more element to the cell phone debate.

Source: Simon Romeo, New Perspective on the Issue of Cell Phone Use in Planes, New York Times, September 14, 2001.

For text
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/14/technology/14CELL.html?searchpv=nytToday
For more on Terrorism http://www.ncpa.org/pi/congress/cong9.html


FMF\18 September 2001