19 June 2007
Cell phone use on airplanes could start next month
Only "some" avionics may be disabled
 Little
Rock, Ark. --
Prohibited from using cellular telephones in many private and public buildings,
cell phone manufactures and service providers are seeking out facilities where
their customers can talk with no
restrictions on the length or volume of their conversations. Toward that
end, the World Association for Cellular Telephony (WACT) is petitioning the Air Transport Association
(ATA) to allow—in fact to encourage—cell phone use on both domestic
and international, commercial airline flights.
Russell Portnell, communications director for WACT, said in a press
conference here today, "The cabin compartment of commercial airliners
may be the last bastion of enclosed spaces where our customers will be
allowed free access to receive incoming and initiate outgoing calls. We
are fighting for our customers' rights here. We view the unrestricted
use of a cell phone on an airplane as no less of a personal right than
that of the right to petition the government, the right to possess
firearms or the right to vote."
Asked by a reporter about the potential problem of interference between cell phone
transmissions and electrical navigation equipment aboard commercial
airliners, Portnell responded, "We see no problem whatsoever. Our
organization has sponsored several university studies that have shown
conclusively that an airplane's essential avionics have little
or no effect on
cell phone reception and transmission."
"Every critical system on today's aircraft has a backup,
redundant
system," said Portnell. "Some even have triple backup capabilities. Keeping
all of those
safeguards functioning during most phases of a flight does, however, generate a lot of
interference with the frequencies that cell phones use for their
wireless communications. All we are proposing here is that flight crews
disable only some of the avionics—just the backup systems—once
their aircraft is aloft and fully operational."
Sources in ATA have reported that it is considering the proposal and has
contacted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to get that agency's reading on
the request. FAA insiders familiar with the matter have told Travel Fox
that very few impediments to the WACT proposal exist. If agreement is reached among the WACT, the ATA and the FAA,
allowing full-time cell phone use on airplanes could begin as early as
next month.
In related news, WACT is petitioning the legislatures of Pennsylvania
and Wyoming to allow use of multiple cell phones and other electronic
devices while driving. The organization cited the results of a recent
Colorado University study showing that drivers fully engaged with personal
electronic devices were much less likely to be involved in incidents of
road rage.
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