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April 07, 2004

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Any time you board a plane, you are guaranteed two things. Firstly, the cabin crew will go through the safety procedures while everyone does there best to ignore them. Secondly, the cabin crew will repeat several times to turn off all mobile phones and electronic devices as they interfere with the aircraft navigational equipment.

At which point you bring out this from The Economist:

CONTRARY to popular belief, mobile phones do not pose a safety threat to airliners. On an average transatlantic flight, several phones are usually left switched on by accident, and the avionics systems on modern aircraft are hardened against radio interference. No, the use of phones on planes is banned because they disrupt mobile networks on the ground. An airliner with 500 phones on board, whizzing across a city, can befuddle a mobile network as the phones busily hop from one base-station to the next.
So in fact you're helping out your fellow man on the ground by screwing up the mobile networks and stopping the mobile phone menace from completely taking over. I can't wait for my next flight now.

 posted by Simon on 04.07.04 at 09:38 AM in the




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Comments:

Now that has to be the very finest blog-post I've read this year. Nice one.

 posted by: Mike Jericho on 04.07.04 at 11:53 AM [permalink]

I've added you to my permanent links-list. Just don't expect great throngs of people to flood in as a result. ;-)

 posted by: Mike Jericho on 04.07.04 at 11:54 AM [permalink]

You, sir, have impeccable taste.

 posted by: Simon on 04.07.04 at 03:22 PM [permalink]

Ah! You even actually take the time out to reply to your readers. Fabulous stuff.

So many bloggers are content to beam down from on high, not deigning to reply. Kudos to you, my friend.

 posted by: Mike Jericho on 04.07.04 at 09:56 PM [permalink]

Not just that - you've been added to the Aussie blogroll. That's the kind of service we offer here.

 posted by: Simon on 04.08.04 at 09:13 AM [permalink]

Well it seems to me that Cathay should approach UA cinemas and offer to ensure all their flight paths go over admiralty. This regular film-goer would certainly appreciate it!

 posted by: Phil on 04.11.04 at 06:50 AM [permalink]




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