This was my comment on this topic opn another list, where there is also lots of
interesting discussion:
I certainly don't want to put any flight I'm on in jeopardy by using a
cell phone. However, I have to wonder how avionics, aircraft control
systems, stepper motors, hydraulic pump motors, servos, fluorescent
lighting systems, and probably dozens, if not hundreds of switching
power supplies can be stuffed into an airframe, and operate without
hopelessly swamping each other with so much noise that nothing works --
unless they're designed from the inside out to work in that sea of noise.
If avionics are designed to work in that RF environment, how much impact
can a cell phone really have? I admit there is no case to be made for a
conventional cell phone working at 45,000 feet and 450 MPH, any more
than you can expect a UHF handheld radio to maintain a useful
communication circuit when it's bringing up a dozen repeaters over
four or five states. But, really, if commercial avionics are so
fragile thay can't survive the noise from a cell phone in the passenger
compartment, something tells me they have design defects that need to be
fixed before all commercial aircraft come plunging out of the sky.
As some others have said, I'd like to see the objective, replicable
study that demonstrates such failures, and then, I'd like to see that
vulnerability fixed. Otherwise, we have an opportunity for terrorism
that doesn't involve even a trace of explosive. Why wear exploding
shoes, when you can just flip open your cell phone?
Tom, KT9OM
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