Irish airline to allow cell phones on flights

The Washington Times ^ | 31 Aug 2006 | Kara Rowland

[Marius3188]

A European airline plans to let passengers use their cell phones during flights starting next year, but it could be awhile before U.S. carriers get the green light from federal officials.

Ryanair, the Irish budget airline and Europe's biggest low-cost carrier, intends to outfit 50 aircraft, or about a quarter of its fleet, with OnAir mobile technology by the end of next year, allowing passengers to call, text message and e-mail during flight. Ryanair's remaining fleet will be equipped starting in 2008.

The company said it expects to receive regulatory approval, which would make Ryanair the first European airline to let passengers use their cell phones in flight.

In the United States, cell-phone service on airborne aircraft is not specifically barred by the Federal Aviation Administration, but -- as with all portable electronic devices -- airlines would need to demonstrate that it does not interfere with a plane's communication and navigation systems, FAA spokesman Les Dorr said.

"That can be a tall order," he said.

The agency allows portable devices without radio transmitters, such as laptops or mp3 players, to be used at altitudes above 10,000 feet.

In the meantime, the issue of cell phones onboard is moot since a Federal Communications Commission ban prevents it for fear that air-to-ground calls would overload the ground-based cell-phone system.

[The Red Zone]

They basically a cell "tower" in the cabin, causing the phones to reduce power to a whisper since that's all that's needed to talk to the cabin cell. Should this cell ever fail, though, it will be a problem for ground stations.

[Larry Lucido]

Well, at least the yakkity person next to me can talk to someone else besides me.

[The Red Zone]

Oh great, one cellphone yakker is obnoxious, imagine half a cabinful of them.

[mcg2000]

Hm? A potential terrorists' flying bomb? Great advertisement campaign.

[theBuckwheat]

I wonder what all the "experts" who insist that cell phones "cannot work on planes" will say. This is a key piece to their theory that Bush caused 9/11.

[Larry Lucido]

Now you'll know more than you ever wanted to know about your seat-mate's hernia operation, their hairdresser's affairs, and their cousin's divorce.

[The Red Zone]

I think the problem is expected if all flights were allowed to have yakkers on them. The four planes involved in the 9/11 crashes were not sufficient to overload the system, but if every plane that had been in the air at the time was full of yakkers, then....

[Vinnie]

A potential terrorists' flying bomb?

My thought also.

Edited my thoughts on how out.

[wagglebee]

I always thought that the main reason why cell phones were not allowed was that they could interfere with the plane's radio transmissions, but perhaps this was just a scam to get us to pay the outrageous fees for the airphones.

Plus, this creates a greater terrorist threat.

[Marius3188]

The service will allows cell phones to connect to Onair, which allows you to connect to Sats. in the sky.

If there was no problem with our current cell phones at high altitudes then you really wouldn't need it.

Onair was not available on 9/11.

[theBuckwheat]

>>
I always thought that the main reason why cell phones were not allowed was that they could interfere with the plane's radio transmissions, but perhaps this was just a scam to get us to pay the outrageous fees for the airphones.
<<

Well, the technical issue feeds the marketing and revenue concerns. There is a basic problem with allowing a plane-full of passengers use all kinds of electronic devices that emit all kinds of signals on all sorts of frequencies. The aircraft navigation is based both on GPS signals and VHF/UHF signals (VOR and DME). These signals are both weak and must be able to be decoded with very tight accuracy. The VOR signal is analog and must be decodable to a radial that is less than +/- 4.5 degrees and the closer the better.

GPS signals are very weak and digital, so weak that wet tree leaves block it in ground-based applications. GPS antennas are mounted on the outside top of the aircraft, so they can "see" the satellites with maximum visibility. But this does not prevent a device in the cabin that produces a loud enough errant signal from interfering with the real one.

The pilot-ground communications is in the VHF frequency range and is AM modulated (analog). So it is also subject to interference from a local source, even an inadvertent errant signal from an otherwise normally function device such as a game-boy, cell phone or PC.

[wagglebee]

The other problem is that sitting in an airplane cabin is so damn noisy in the first place, having 200 people all talking on their phones at the same time will be unbearable.

[Irish_Thatcherite]

How did I know this story was about Ryanair? ;)

[Lx]

I've tried to use my cell on several flights from Hawaii, San Francisco and JFK. Once we were about a minute into the flight, I couldn't get a connection.
Does that prove that 9/11 is a hoax? hardly. I was on planes climbing to cruising altitude which they get to pretty fast. I don't remember the altitude of the four on 9/11 but I do remember people saying they could see buildings so I doubt they were at 33K feet.

They were also over densly populated area and the time I tried to use my cell phone out of JFK, we were over Long Island on the way to Frankfurt.