Pilot discusses airplane mode for phones – and whether it's actually necessary

Christine Younan
·2-min read
Photo of an airplane just before landing in the early morning. Runway lights can be seen in the foreground.
-Credit:Getty Images


Travelling is all fun and games, until the flight attendant reads out the safety measures onboard.

Everyone knows by now that seats must be in an upright position and windows should be up when take-off happens. Another crucial safety tip is, of course, putting your phone on airplane mode, but is it necessary?

Well one pilot finally discussed the matter as he claimed it's "not the end of the world". Over on YouTube, WKYC Channel 3 shared @perchpoint's advice where he claimed it's "not a conspiracy" and passengers should still follow the rule.

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He said: "This is just a friendly PSA the airplane mode button on your phone is not a conspiracy. So if you forget to put your phone on airplane mode, no it's not the end of the world, the plane will not fall out of the sky and it won't even mess with the systems on board.

"However, it does have the potential to mess with the headsets, if you have an aircraft with 70, 80 or 150 people on board and even three or four people's phones start to try to make a connection to a radio tower for an incoming phone call, it sends out radio waves, there's the potential those radio waves can interfere with the headsets the pilots are using."

Meanwhile the pilot mentioned a scenario which happened in San Francisco where he experienced an "annoying buzz" with the headset during take off. He explained: "And as soon as we started to get the directions, we got this really annoying buzz with the headset and it kind of sounds like there's a mosquito.

"Not the end of the world but definitely annoying when you're trying to copy down instructions and it sounds like there's a wasp or something lying around you. So if you're ever curious why you get put on airplane mode, that's why."

Since it was shared, it turns out a lot of people were thankful for the advice. One said: "That is excellent advice. Of course, I think we all know that not everyone heeds to the policy that all airline companies have during flight."

Another added: "This is an FCC requirement and has zero to do with headsets. They don't want everyone pinging towers along the route."