Mobile phones, gadgets may cause plane crash
January 19th, 2011 - 6:43 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Jan 19 (IANS) The growing presence of mobile phones and other gadgets on board could create electronic interference that could send an aircraft crashing down.
Most personal devices transmit a signal and all of them emit electromagnetic waves which could interfere with the plane’s electronics. Besides, older planes might not have the best protection against the latest generation of devices, the Daily Mail reported.
“The technical advancements for wireless devices and portable electronic equipment is so rapid, it changes every week,” said Doug Hughes, an electrical engineer and air safety investigator in Britain was quoted as saying. “The advances in airplanes take 20 years.”
There is no recent survey on how often passengers ignore restrictions on use of their gadgets.
But seven years ago Bill Strauss, then doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University, in the US, monitored the signals emitted from phones during flights and discovered that they were frequently being left on.
So, Strauss said, the deterioration of planes and advance or decline of electronic devices over time was the immeasurable factor that was never taken into account by passengers.
“It would be a perfect storm that would combine to create an aviation accident,” he said.
One crash in which mobile phone interference with a plane’s navigation was cited as a possible factor involved a 2003 flight in Christchurch, New Zealand. Eight people died when the plane flew into the ground short of the runway.
The pilot had phoned home and the call remained connected for the last three minutes of the flight.
Since 2000, there have been at least 10 voluntary reports filed by pilots in the US with the aviation safety reporting system, administered by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
In 2007, one pilot recounted an instance when the navigational equipment on his Boeing 737 had failed after takeoff.
A flight attendant told a passenger to turn off a hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) device and the problem on the flight deck got sorted.
- 'Perfect storm' from mobile use can cause planes to crash - Jan 19, 2011
- Mobile phones may make planes crash: Study - Jun 10, 2011
- Curbs on cell phones' use in aircraft relaxed - Oct 18, 2010
- Coffee Spill Diverts United Airlines Flight, Triggers Hijacking Alert - Jan 06, 2011
- Meghalaya wants probe against pilots flouting safety norms - Jun 17, 2011
- 12 bodies brought out of crashed Sukhoi - May 11, 2012
- Two killed in small plane crash in US - Feb 22, 2012
- Brazil plane crash leaves 16 dead - Jul 14, 2011
- Now, device that lets parents 'see the world through child's eyes' - Oct 27, 2010
- Single engine and bad weather, recipe for air disaster: experts - May 26, 2011
- Texting, browsing may soon be permitted on New Zealand flights - May 28, 2010
- 'Next-gen high-speed broadband mobile phones could compromise railway safety' - Dec 17, 2010
- Near-miss at Birmingham Airport - Jan 17, 2011
- U.S. FAA launches website for pilots and public about laser incidents - Oct 28, 2011
- Pakistan grounds all private jets for checks - Apr 24, 2012
Tags: aviation accident, aviation safety reporting system, bill strauss, boeing 737, carnegie mellon university, christchurch new zealand, daily mail, doug hughes, electrical engineer, electromagnetic waves, electronic interference, last three minutes, london jan, national aeronautics and space, national aeronautics and space administration, navigational equipment, personal devices, safety reporting system, technical advancements, voluntary reports