26 March 2008
The use of mobile phones is still not to be allowed on light aircraft flights, the CAA has told us, despite today’s announcement from Ofcom that the use of mobile phones is to be permitted on certain airliners.
The key issue is the installation of a mobile phone base station on board the airliners. This base station (which would be activated at a certain point after takeoff) would pick up any activity from phones on the aircraft, and relay signals to a satellite, which would relay it to the appropriate ground station.
Any mobile phone on an aircraft which does not have a base station will attempt to reach a base station by using an increasingly strong signal, eventually (potentially) reaching a point where it could interfere with the aircraft’s systems. A CAA study in 2003 showed that mobile phones could ‘skew’ navigation bearings by up to five degrees; the CAA says that it affects older (dial/gauge) systems.
<ul>
<li>Ofcom has <a href=’http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/mofaq/rcomms/mcafaq/’ target=’_blank’>produced a set of FAQs</a> about using mobile phones in aircraft</li>
</ul>
