Passenger Jailed for Talking on Phone in Plane

[Slartibartfast]

Just the other day when Tycho was connected to AIM from the airplane during his honeymoon, he told me it was only forbidden to use a cellphone during landing/takeoff.

Not to mention that most planes have their own phones that you can use with a credit card.

[2000AD]

This reminds me of my last holiday.

When a plane lands there's always some people who stand up and try and get they're luggage out of the overhead compartment, despite all the cabin crew asking them to sit down. This time one of the cabin crew guys just went "PLEASE SIT DOWN UNTIL THE PLANE HAS COME TO A HALT!". It was so funny watching all those impatient idiots suddenly try to backpedal.

[Bill Door]

Mobile phones are active transmission devices. Have you ever put a phone anywhere near a radio for any length of time? You get that little "Biddit dup biddit dup biddit dup dup" sound every few minutes as the phone checks in to base to see if It has messages waiting for it.

Having had that happen with some crap computer speakers, I can understand how that could be dangerous while receiving important commands from air traffic control.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I've never had this problem on an airliner before, but I have experienced it elsewhere. There was some jackass using his mobile in the ENT clinic waiting room of my local hospital who was told to stop it as it interferes with electronics there, potentially life threatening at that.

Then there was a time only a couple of weeks ago when I was with my dad waiting in the car to get fuel in a petrol station forecourt when some idiot who'd just got out of his 4x4 started using his mobile. The guy was told over the PA system to stop it twice by the attendants before he finally gave in to peer pressure. Way to go, dipshit.

[The Third Man]

Then there was a time only a couple of weeks ago when I was with my dad waiting in the car to get fuel in a petrol station forecourt when some idiot who'd just got out of his 4x4 started using his mobile

Hmmm. I'm not too convinced about how real the dangers of cellphones in petrol stations are. Snopes says something about it. This is what makes me wonder if the dangers re aircraft are similarly overstated.

the computers will die and the plane will very suddenly crash straight into the ground

Ooo-err. Best not let Bin Laden and his little friends find out about this then.

[Plekhanov]

Hmmm. I'm not too convinced about how real the dangers of cellphones in petrol stations are. Snopes says something about it. This is what makes me wonder if the dangers re aircraft are similarly overstated.

I don’t know if the sparking thing is true or not but gas (that’s natural gas to the Americans) companies take it seriously. I worked for Transco a few years ago and several of the (in house produced) safety videos we were shown had stuff about not using mobiles near gas leaks in them, I suspect they had some good info to go off and didn’t just lift it off the internet.

[jenat-lai]

The danger is as I explained it. The risk being that the pilots may miss something in a tight ATC situation which may lead to a loss of seperation incident. Also with the ILS radion navigation system being trumped. Nothing more than a bit of a pain for the pilot normally, if there's fog or rain and visibility is low and he can't see the darn airport on approach, he's going to be using the radio based navigation as the primary means of navigation and guidence.

Normal situations, and cell phones arn't going to effect much. In a reasonable case of bad timing it might delay your flight a few seconds and make the Pilot pissed off. Worst case, he misses a "United 249 Turn left IMMEDIATE 280 traffic alert" and hits a VFR Cessna midair. Mild case, the aircraft has to go around in bad weather because the ILS frequency is being interfered with and they can't track the runway, thus delaying your flight's landing by about 5 minutes, and making lots of noise over the approach zone.

[Chris OFarrell]

Fucking A. Serves the bitch right. She refused several requests to turn off her phone, which she HAS to do, there are signs and warnings every ten feet at airports telling you this. She then (apparently) pretends to be disabled. She THEN ignores a FEDERAL AGENT who is telling her to imediatly comply. She then SLAPS him when he touches her shoulder, clearly to get her attention.

BLoody right they handcuff her ass and through the entire airport, frog march her in front of as many people as possible. That would probably be worse then death to her.

You know, its too bad they don't teach Air Marshels the Vulcan neck pinch. It would be like Spock in ST4 with that headbanging idiot on the bus. Just put them to sleep for a few hours

[Admiral Valdemar]

Hmmm. I'm not too convinced about how real the dangers of cellphones in petrol stations are. Snopes says something about it. This is what makes me wonder if the dangers re aircraft are similarly overstated.

The risk is still there and with phones using more power intensive features with bigger power cells, it's even worse than a couple of years ago. The original Shell (or the one I read may have been Esso) report was from '99 and said there was a minor risk. In anycase, it's a risk not needed and pumping gas and talking on the phone is stupid anyway.

I'd not doubt the aircraft problems. They have their own phones if you need them, but any unauthorised transmission like that can play with sensitive equipment. Same in hospitals.

[GySgt. Hartman]

Just becaues you are rich, doesn't mean you are limitless. Why the hell can't people just pack in line and follow the damn rules.

Because they learn in everyday life that the rules don't apply to them.
-> Parking on a spot reserved for the disabled? Oh, I am too busy to look for another spot, I'll just pay the fine...

[Illuminatus Primus]

What is it about Beamers that stirs up such hatred, as opposed to other luxury car brands?

I detest them as well, I just don't know why.

Maybe it's because the people driving them tend to be assholes. I've lost count of the number of times I've been cut off by some asshole in a BMW. BMWs seem to be quite trendy among a particular socio-economic group which is closely correlated with asshole driving techniques. Perhaps there's a special BMW driving school where they teach new owners how to cut people off in traffic.

My dad drives a 328i and defines this characteristic, no obnoxious, hypocritical, selfish, impatient, and all-together social-skill illiterate behavior on the road is beyond him. Cutting off, not using singles, honking at people who get in his way because of his own terrible driving--name it.

Never the less, its still a nice car and I'd like to have it, not that I'd become an asshole.

[Admiral Valdemar]

The new 5-series looks a dream to drive.

[HemlockGrey]

My dad drives a 328i and defines this characteristic, no obnoxious, hypocritical, selfish, impatient, and all-together social-skill illiterate behavior on the road is beyond him. Cutting off, not using singles, honking at people who get in his way because of his own terrible driving--name it.

As my own dad would say, people like that cause unrest.

[Evil Sadistic Bastard]

Because they learn in everyday life that the rules don't apply to them.
-> Parking on a spot reserved for the disabled? Oh, I am too busy to look for another spot, I'll just pay the fine...

They deserve to park there, because they are obviously mentally disabled...

[Master of Ossus]

Just the other day when Tycho was connected to AIM from the airplane during his honeymoon, he told me it was only forbidden to use a cellphone during landing/takeoff.

Bullshit. It's actually much worse to use your cell phone in the air.

[Master of Ossus]

The danger is as I explained it. The risk being that the pilots may miss something in a tight ATC situation which may lead to a loss of seperation incident. Also with the ILS radion navigation system being trumped. Nothing more than a bit of a pain for the pilot normally, if there's fog or rain and visibility is low and he can't see the darn airport on approach, he's going to be using the radio based navigation as the primary means of navigation and guidence.

Normal situations, and cell phones arn't going to effect much. In a reasonable case of bad timing it might delay your flight a few seconds and make the Pilot pissed off. Worst case, he misses a "United 249 Turn left IMMEDIATE 280 traffic alert" and hits a VFR Cessna midair. Mild case, the aircraft has to go around in bad weather because the ILS frequency is being interfered with and they can't track the runway, thus delaying your flight's landing by about 5 minutes, and making lots of noise over the approach zone.

There's also, of course, the massive financial damage it causes to phone companies to try to connect someone who's kilometers above the surface of the planet, which ties up multiple relays and leads to potential damage to the network as a whole.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

MIAMI (AP) A plane passenger slapped a federal air marshal after refusing to sit down and ignoring instructions to end her cellular phone call, which she said would have been ``rude,'' prosecutors said Tuesday.

Lilia Belkova has been jailed since being charged with assaulting a federal officer and interfering with a flight crew last Wednesday as a US Airways flight prepared to take off from Miami to Philadelphia.

A bail hearing was set for Thursday. It was unclear late Tuesday if Belkova, 38, had yet been assigned an attorney.

According to prosecutors, Belkova refused flight attendants' instructions to turn off her cell phone as Flight 26 taxied for takeoff, saying: ``It is rude to hang up on people. I don't have to turn my phone off.''

After ignoring more flight crew instructions, one of two air marshals ordered Belkova to be seated and put a hand on her shoulder to show her where to sit.

Belkova reached back and slapped the marshal across the face, causing ``minor swelling,'' according to court papers. She was handcuffed and taken off the plane.

About time! Im actually glad she got what was coming!

Did she learn nothing from the trailer of Soul Plane?

Why does she think people make these movies (beside educating the public)? Comedy?
Well, I didn't hear anybody laughing!

[Bob the Gunslinger]

You can just picture her, can't you? Cell-phone, business attire, type A personality, BMW in the garage at home, the world revolves around her, etc. She probably slapped the air marshall because she had judged his income to be unworthy of respect.

You totally described one of my in-laws, who coincidentally is part of the Russian-American Community. She judges people not by the content of their character, but on their paychecks.

[J]

You know, its too bad they don't teach Air Marshels the Vulcan neck pinch. It would be like Spock in ST4 with that headbanging idiot on the bus. Just put them to sleep for a few hours

A swift blow to the back of the head with a blackjack will have the same effect. Truncheons or large metal flashlight (a 4D Maglite) will do the trick too, but blackjacks are purpose made for whacking people in the head.

[Howedar]

Just for clarification, did she know she was smacking a federal agent or was he dressed in civilian clothes without any identifying marks?

I'm certainly not saying she's in the right, mind.

[Saurencaerthai]

You would think that after 9/11, one would have enough common sense to be a cooperative, relatively passive individual on a plane. I wonder, would she pull a gun on a cop, too?

[The Third Man]

The risk is still there

But even if it does in fact exist then it's very, very small. Less than the risk from static charge build-up on your car, according to some - see the snopes article and its associated links.

and with phones using more power intensive features with bigger power cells, it's even worse than a couple of years ago.

Sorry, but I think you'll find that the power-intensive features are stuff like bigger, brighter, colour displays and fancy ringtones. The transmitter power is the same, at a mandated maximum of (IIRC) 2 watts. You can't make an issue of the bigger power cells, when the biggest, hugest cell-phone battery available would be insignificant next to the battery in your car - which is used to drive a big sparky commutator at 100 amps or so in the starter motor each and every time you leave the petrol station.

The original Shell (or the one I read may have been Esso) report was from '99 and said there was a minor risk. In anycase, it's a risk not needed and pumping gas and talking on the phone is stupid anyway.

Legislating to eliminate insignificant risks is not sensible at all; it's a waste of time and effort and contributes to our already risk hyper-sensitive culture, something I feel quite strongly about (but that's for another topic).

Here's something interesting - it seems Shell were, at least at one time, actually installing mobile phone masts in their petrol stations!

I'd not doubt the aircraft problems

I don't doubt that they exist and are much more significant than the petrol-station thing. What jenat-lai says seems valid, and dovetails with what I've been reading elsewhere. What I doubt is that the risk is as drastic as general opinion would have us believe.

I suspect they had some good info to go off and didn’t just lift it off the internet

I suspect they didn't have good info, although I agree it's unlikely they "lifted it off the internet", because there are no reliably documented cases of a (natural) gas explosion caused by a mobile phone to be found on the internet.

As far as I can see, the issue is that the mobile phone cannot be described as "intinsically safe" as they say, because it is not a totally sealed device. But "not intrinsically safe" does not equal "is dangerous". I would imagine the worst case scenario with a mobile in an explosive atmosphere would be to drop it, crush it or something similar in such a way that you somehow managed to cause a short across the battery terminals and thus a spark.

There is more reliable evidence out there for (natural) gas explosions caused by doorbell ringers than for mobiles.

[The Third Man]

There's also, of course, the massive financial damage it causes to phone companies to try to connect someone who's kilometers above the surface of the planet, which ties up multiple relays and leads to potential damage to the network as a whole

Really? Could you explain a bit more about how this comes about - I don't doubt you, just I've never heard of this before and I'm interested.

[LadyTevar]

The risk is still there

But even if it does in fact exist then it's very, very small. Less than the risk from static charge build-up on your car, according to some - see the snopes article and its associated links.

MythBusters on Discovery Channel did a little experiment where they tried to set off gasoline with a cellphone. Didn't work. The general conclusion by MythBusters was Cellphones Can't Start Fires at GasPumps, but Static Discharge Can.

[Admiral Valdemar]

*SNIP*

The fact is, people shouldn't be pumping an inflammable substance and nattering on a phone given they could spill and vaporise fuel in the area. And that, my friend, is a hazard. The guy in my story was doing just that and not even looking at the petrol port as he did so. As we all know, static discharges are common enough to make them a threat even if the possibility of the phone being the source of ignition is remote.

I also recall something saying women are more likely to cause such incidents.