Whose Mobile Is It Anyway
Monday 14th August, 2006 16:46 Comments: 0
BBC News website reader Matthew Robinson was on a British Airways flight from Heathrow to New York which was turned back after a mobile phone was heard ringing on the plane. I was sitting at the front of the plane - we'd probably been in the air for around an hour, maybe two, somewhere over Ireland.
A mobile phone started ringing at the back of the plane. No one claimed the phone as their own so people nearby started to panic and covered it up with pillows.
Yes, that's right, they covered the mobile phone with pillows, because a pillow is really going to stop any kind of blast! Mobiles were/are banned on flights because it was thought they could be used to trigger another device. If it were designed to blow something up when it was called, it would be too late once you hear it ring. If it's designed to broadcast a signal to another device, a pillow is hardly going to generate enough interference.
What they really needed was some kind of pouch that an electrical device can be placed inside, which would block a wide variety of signals. Or better yet, if you're feeling brave, take the battery out of the mobile. Covering it with a pillow won't do anything.
Perhaps I can sell the airlines some expensive boxes with shielding, and (optionally) some form of thick, airtight, bomb resistant material.
A mobile phone started ringing at the back of the plane. No one claimed the phone as their own so people nearby started to panic and covered it up with pillows.
Yes, that's right, they covered the mobile phone with pillows, because a pillow is really going to stop any kind of blast! Mobiles were/are banned on flights because it was thought they could be used to trigger another device. If it were designed to blow something up when it was called, it would be too late once you hear it ring. If it's designed to broadcast a signal to another device, a pillow is hardly going to generate enough interference.
What they really needed was some kind of pouch that an electrical device can be placed inside, which would block a wide variety of signals. Or better yet, if you're feeling brave, take the battery out of the mobile. Covering it with a pillow won't do anything.
Perhaps I can sell the airlines some expensive boxes with shielding, and (optionally) some form of thick, airtight, bomb resistant material.