Should cell phones be allowed on airplanes - Essay Example

Federal Aviation Administration looked at thousands of flight records and failed to find a single instance in which equipment was affected by a wireless phone. The study was conducted by RTCA Inc., a nonprofit organization that sets industry standards for airplane electronics.”(Airlines ban….) Plane makers Boeing Co. and Airbus Industries have bombarded their aircraft with cell-phone frequencies and discovered no interference with communication, navigation or other systems. One likely reason that no problems were found: cellular phones dont operate on any of the frequencies used by airplane systems.

"The airlines are misleading the traveling public," says John Sheehan, who headed the RTCA study and says he has often used his own cell phone in the sky. There is no real connection between cell-phone frequencies and the frequencies of the navigation or communications systems.” (Airlines ban….)These evidences notwithstanding, use of cell phones on private and commercial aircrafts is banned by the FAA and the Federal Communications Commission. The benefit of doubt is given to its potentiality to interfere with ground-to-ground cellular transmission.

There are other technical aspects. The electrical charge from the batteries in majority of the handsets is in excess of the standards of the plane makers. In theory, this is a problem. The devise has the potentiality to cause interference with the electrical systems of the airplane. The aspect of economic incentive is not ruled out. The carriers get a part of the revenue earned from the telephones. The charge is about $6 for a one-minute call, and this works out to more than 20 times of the normal cell-phone rates.

The in-flight telephones also work on cellular technology. In the meanwhile, the ban is enforced strictly. Neil Whitehouse, a British oil employee, is serving a 12 month’s jail sentence for refusing to switch off his cell phone on a British Airways flight from Spain. Apart from the