Your phone is a transmit/send radio. Nothing more or less. The airplane's radios are shielded to prevent interference from the ones they use. It's not uncommon for some instrumentation like compasses, ADF's, and glideslopes to temporarily vanish from display for a few seconds when you key the microphone to speak. You really don't want that to happen from passengers talking on their radios(cellphones).
Think Ron Brown....................
“Navigation signals are very low in power by the time / distance they are received by the aircraft. In cruise flight it’s not as much of a big deal because of the airway width. But on an approach for landing, or reverse approach(departure), interference can cause hundreds of feet in deviation from centerline both vertical axis and horizontal. That does not mean it will in all cases, but it CAN.”
If cell signals had any effect, planes would be dropping like flies as they fly over urban areas.
It’s hokum.
And, yes, I am a pilot.
Mythbusters did the cell phone thing and could find no problem with even 100 times the signal strength.
My GPS works fine even when I'm on the phone. The GPS is one hand, and the phone in the other. The satellites the GPS is listening to are a minimum of 11,000 miles away.
When I think Ron Brown...I think .45ACP
“Think Ron Brown....................”
That was murder and had nothing to do with radio communication!
Known as a transceiver.