Why you’re always told to switch on airplane mode when boarding a flight
When it comes to travelling, without a doubt, flight is the safest way to go. This is because planes are designed to prevent accidents from happening. In fact, according to the World Health Organisation, flying is the safest mode of transportation.
For example, planes are equipped with safety features like airbags and seat belts. This means that if something goes wrong, passengers will be safe. Furthermore, planes are regularly inspected to make sure that they are safe.
This means that, even if something does go wrong, passengers are unlikely to be injured. In fact, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the rate of fatalities in air travel is 1 in 18 million.
If you usually travel by air for vacation, you are aware of the moment when the cabin crew can order all people on the plane to switch off or set their phones in flight mode for the duration of the trip. An explanation of why it should be done is provided in this post.
You must first understand what Flight mode is. Every modern phone has an option called “airplane mode” that deactivates your device’s connection to both cellular and Wi-Fi networks. While in this mode, you cannot make calls, send texts, or even surf the web.
Anyway, based on the most recent aerospace scientists and researchers, the reason why you are advised to put your smartphone in flight mode is the signals your mobile generates when you are out of distance of a mobile tower while you are flying and it thereafter effectively makes an attempt to it trying to locate the nearest cellular network connection it does this by speedily transmitting out an electromagnetic wave scanning for cellular towers, coupled with the fact that an aircraft is shifting at some very high rates of speed it finally entails that your phone emits a signal that alerts other passengers that you are in danger.
Additionally, if your phone sends these electromagnetic waves in search of towers, the pilot may hear an upsetting loud amount of interruption in his headsets while communicating with Air Traffic Control (ATC). This signal also uses GSM / CMDA technology of some sort, which uses Time department time division to automatically lock moving objects at high speeds.
So, after a little bit of research, I concluded that it is indeed possible and important to switch on airplane mode in a plane. Here’s how to do it:
- Power off your phone.
- Hold down the power button and the home button at the same time until you see the Apple logo.
- Release the power button and the home button.
- Enter the following code into your phone’s Settings:
- airplane mode
- Tap on the airplane mode option.
- You’re now successfully switched on airplane mode in your plane!
Conclusion
In other words, you must put your cellphone in flight mode to avoid interfering with cellular networks on the ground, not to avoid interfering with the device itself while in flight.
