Monday Morning Aviation story....

[Styles]

"The Sydney Morning Herald is running an interesting story on the old debate on whether electronic devices cause problems on planes. It appears pilots are pretty much accustomed to handling weird problems with equipment, which they attribute to passengers' portable devices. More research is needed to determine whether or not this is the actual problem, but the article certainly makes me a little uneasy about modern air travel."

Well if a he want to feel very uneasy he should just read the YGBSM thread.

What werid problems / insterment failures have any of you run into???

 

[sky37d]

Ahh, something that I can comment artfully on.
I have C337, and flew lots of IFR stuff, frequently, anyway, used to stick my old Nokia cellphone in the right side pocket F/O slot when ever I flew, so I could retrieve it on the ground, know if I missed any calls, etc, etc.

Got a new Motorola phone, put it in the same place, went out flying, doing the ILS in IMC into AZO, and never got the G/S. The OM went off, but the needle was bouncing up and down. Called tower, is this thing on??. They sent me around. I'm wondering, what has happened. What is different in the plane. New cell phone.

Turned the new Motorola cell phone off, G/S came right up, no incident. Ever since then, when I get in the plane, the cell gets switched off.

It didn't affect anything else, localizer was working, DME was working, ADF was working, GPS was fine, but the G/S, both of them didn't work (I have G/S on HSI, as well as the CDI). It was a frantic minute, switched no 2 radio to G/S from DME, and it never locked in.

 

[banned username 2]

Were both cell phones with the same provider (ie. same technoology? CDMA, TDMA, GSM)... Different technologies operate on different frequencies.

Also Motorola phones have been known to have a much better (ie. stronger) RF section than the Nokia's, which gives them better reception, but may also emit a stronger signal. The phone does transmit even when you aren't on a call. That is the only way the cell system will know which cell the phone is in.

Try changing the orientation of the phone in the pocket (ie. vertical to horizontal, or horizontal to vertical) and see if that makes any difference.

 

[sky37d]

Same provider, but not same technology. The Nokia was 3 generations old, but worked. Company upgraded to new service, new phones, so I ended up with one.
Good point about changing orientation, but I feel safer with it turned off. Just can't imagine the agravation of wondering WHAT IS WRONG. Then have to go around. Don't need any distractions to the instruments when landing..

 

[na265]

In my former life as an SWA FA, I can think of two times the pilots called me up to see if someone was on a cell phone during flight. They had radio interference and instruments that were doing strange things. The first time, I heard I guy in the forward Lav on his phone, the second time a woman was using her phone in the row in front of the bulk head. I hane no doubt that a cell phone will cause interference with the AC.

 

[typhoonpilot]

A few years ago I was doing an ILS into Richmond at night and the localizer was moving from side to side. Ended up disconnecting the autopilot and flying an average heading just letting the localizer swing back and forth at about one dot deflections. After landing I told the tower and he asked the Airbus behind us if they had the same thing, they said no. After parking at the gate and getting my cell phone out of the bag to call the hotel I noticed it had been on.

Typhoonpilot

 

[sky37d]

Glad to hear it wasn't just me.