Airplane mode 'is not a conspiracy,' explains pilot on viral TikTok
Not using airplane mode on your phone when you fly probably won't cause the plane to crash, but it's still safer if you enable it before takeoff.
However, it is more likely that it will just make the pilots' communications with the control tower a little more difficult, and that's not great, either.
If you've ever placed your phone near a speaker and then received a text message, you know what it would sound like in their ears. The dit dit dit of signal interference can cause pilots to need controllers to repeat instructions, and in a crowded airport with tight clearances, any confusion can cause delays or worse.
One pilot took to TikTok to implore passengers to use the feature whenever they fly.
"The airplane mode button on your phone is not a conspiracy," he said in the video. He explained that on a recent flight, he heard radio interference in his headset, likely from a cell phone, and it made it more difficult for him to get taxi clearance from the tower.
Shawn Pruchnicki, a professor at the Center for Aviation Studies at The Ohio State University, previously told USA TODAY that cell phones could also theoretically interfere with an airplane's navigation systems.
"Where it really counts is upon landing, especially when we’re doing an instrument landing," he said. "Those signals are very, very precise, and the autopilot flying those signals is also very, very precise. This is not the time when you want any variability at all, especially when you have terrain considerations."
Although there's no proof that cell phones have ever been implicated in an airline crash, experts agree it's a better safe than sorry situation. We could all use a little less screen time, anyway.
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Your phone's airplane mode is there for everyone's safety
