Airlines should continue to ban the use of mobile phones on
board aircraft because of possible interference with navigation and
communication equipment, according to a study by the UK's Civil
Aviation Authority (CAA).A series of tests conducted in conjunction
with Vodafone exposed a set of aircraft avionic systems to
simulated mobile phone transmissions.
They revealed various adverse effects on the
equipment's performance.
Although the equipment allowed a margin above
the "original certification criteria for interference
susceptibility", the margin was not sufficient to protect against
potential mobile phone interference under worst-case conditions,
the authority said.
The study could be a blow to some airlines,
such as Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), which hoped to offer
passengers the opportunity to use their mobile phones in the air as
they do on the ground.
Mobile phone use has long been banned on
flights, while the use of many other electrical devices, such as
notebook computers, are banned on take-off and final approach.
But passengers, particularly business people,
are interested in using their phones on planes to keep in touch
with their offices and customers.
In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) bans the use of mobile phones on flights because, like the
CAA, it too is concerned about wireless calls interfering with a
plane's navigation system.
From March 1996 to December 2002, CAA recorded
35 aircraft safety-related incidents that were linked to mobile
phones.
The reported interference incidents included
interrupted communications because of noise in the flight crew's
headphones.
CAA recommends a continued ban on mobile phone
use by passengers in aircraft and urges airlines to introduce
safety procedures that ensure phones are switched off.
Whether the CAA study will encourage airlines
to prohibit the use of mobile phones with flight-safe features
remains to be seen.
Last week, SAS announced a policy for allowing
passengers to use all mobile phone functions, such as calendars,
address books and reading e-mail, that require no signal
transmission.
To do so, passengers would require phones
equipped with a flight-safe mode, which prevents a handset from
sending or receiving signals required to make phone calls.
Nokia's 9210i Communicator and Sony Ericsson's
P800 smart phone are among the first handsets with the flight-safe
feature.
"We continue to recommend to our customers
that they should turn off their mobile phones when inside aircraft
and should only turn them back on if equipped with the flight-safe
mode," said Nokia spokesman Damian Stathonikos. "But we understand
that some airlines prefer passengers not to use their mobile phones
at all."
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