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On-board cellphone signal detectors?



 
 
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  #1  
Old April 30th, 2010, 08:37 PM posted to rec.travel.air
AES
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 186
Default On-board cellphone signal detectors?

During the departure taxi phase on a United 777 at Dulles yesterday
(4/28), the cabin crew made the usual safety announcements and
instructions that all electronic devices must be turned off until the
plane had climbed above 10,000 feet (or whatever is the specified
altitude.

A few minutes later, one of the cabin crew (at least, I thought it was
the cabin crew, not the cockpit, but can't be sure) came on the PA
system and said something like "Our signal radiation detector [or some
such term] is indicating that an electronic device in the cabin has not
been turned off. If this device is not turned off, we will have to
return to the gate and that passenger will be removed."

[And of course I immediately had a panicked thought, "OMG, my cellphone
is buried in my bag up in the overhead -- did I _really_ turn it off
when I stuffed it in there?".]

So, are there really any such "signal radiation detectors" (or whatever
they said) in routine use on any current airliners, from the cockpit or
the cabin crew area? Or was the cockpit/cabin crew just yanking our
chain?

I guess I'm very skeptical about there being any such instrumentation,
because:

1) Given the immense variety of rf signals that must leak from all the
different types of cellphones and consumer electronic devices, designing
such a detector seems like a real challenge.

2) Especially because it would have to distinguish offending signals
from all the aircraft-generated signals that must be simultaneously
bouncing around inside the aircraft.

3) Returning to the gate would seem like to generate major expense and
disruption in terms of gate access, schedule delay, potential taxiway
interference, revised flight planning (?), potentially even refueling --
it's just hard to believe they would really do it (especially given the
high probability of a false positive in a system like this).

4) And, if there really were some passenger with an operating device in
their pocket, it would be pretty trivial for them to surreptitiously
turn it off during the return taxi; and then what is the airline to do,
once they're back at the gate? Search all the passengers, trying to
find which of a hundred cell phones was the guilty one?

Just doesn't seem realistic to me . . . ???
  #2  
Old April 30th, 2010, 09:25 PM posted to rec.travel.air
Bob Myers
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 204
Default On-board cellphone signal detectors?

On 4/30/2010 1:37 PM, AES wrote:
During the departure taxi phase on a United 777 at Dulles yesterday
(4/28), the cabin crew made the usual safety announcements and
instructions that all electronic devices must be turned off until the
plane had climbed above 10,000 feet (or whatever is the specified
altitude.

A few minutes later, one of the cabin crew (at least, I thought it was
the cabin crew, not the cockpit, but can't be sure) came on the PA
system and said something like "Our signal radiation detector [or some
such term] is indicating that an electronic device in the cabin has not
been turned off. If this device is not turned off, we will have to
return to the gate and that passenger will be removed."

[And of course I immediately had a panicked thought, "OMG, my cellphone
is buried in my bag up in the overhead -- did I _really_ turn it off
when I stuffed it in there?".]

So, are there really any such "signal radiation detectors" (or whatever
they said) in routine use on any current airliners, from the cockpit or
the cabin crew area? Or was the cockpit/cabin crew just yanking our
chain?


It's possible, if they were specifically looking for relatively high-power
signals occuring in the cell phone bands. That would be a fairly good
indication that the switched-on cell phone was somewhere in the
cabin. Electronic equipment in general, which could be producing
emissions at just about any frequency - well, it would be a lot more
difficult to make that assessment with any real certainty.

Bob M.

  #3  
Old April 30th, 2010, 09:50 PM posted to rec.travel.air
DevilsPGD[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 79
Default On-board cellphone signal detectors?

In message AES
was claimed to have wrote:

During the departure taxi phase on a United 777 at Dulles yesterday
(4/28), the cabin crew made the usual safety announcements and
instructions that all electronic devices must be turned off until the
plane had climbed above 10,000 feet (or whatever is the specified
altitude.

A few minutes later, one of the cabin crew (at least, I thought it was
the cabin crew, not the cockpit, but can't be sure) came on the PA
system and said something like "Our signal radiation detector [or some
such term] is indicating that an electronic device in the cabin has not
been turned off. If this device is not turned off, we will have to
return to the gate and that passenger will be removed."


It's entirely possible one of the flight attendants spotted something
and lied about how it was detected just for giggles.

It's also entirely possible likely that they have some piece of
equipment which reacts to certain frequencies. A iDEN or GSM phone near
an improperly shielded speaker or amplifier can cause some interference,
for example. It's possible that some non-critical system reacts
similarly, creating an unintended (and likely unreliable) detector.
  #4  
Old May 1st, 2010, 11:45 AM posted to rec.travel.air
Runge121
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 120
Default On-board cellphone signal detectors?

....but typically US manners...


"AES" a écrit dans le message de groupe de discussion
: ...
During the departure taxi phase on a United 777 at Dulles yesterday
(4/28), the cabin crew made the usual safety announcements and
instructions that all electronic devices must be turned off until the
plane had climbed above 10,000 feet (or whatever is the specified
altitude.

A few minutes later, one of the cabin crew (at least, I thought it was
the cabin crew, not the cockpit, but can't be sure) came on the PA
system and said something like "Our signal radiation detector [or some
such term] is indicating that an electronic device in the cabin has not
been turned off. If this device is not turned off, we will have to
return to the gate and that passenger will be removed."

[And of course I immediately had a panicked thought, "OMG, my cellphone
is buried in my bag up in the overhead -- did I _really_ turn it off
when I stuffed it in there?".]

So, are there really any such "signal radiation detectors" (or whatever
they said) in routine use on any current airliners, from the cockpit or
the cabin crew area? Or was the cockpit/cabin crew just yanking our
chain?

I guess I'm very skeptical about there being any such instrumentation,
because:

1) Given the immense variety of rf signals that must leak from all the
different types of cellphones and consumer electronic devices, designing
such a detector seems like a real challenge.

2) Especially because it would have to distinguish offending signals
from all the aircraft-generated signals that must be simultaneously
bouncing around inside the aircraft.

3) Returning to the gate would seem like to generate major expense and
disruption in terms of gate access, schedule delay, potential taxiway
interference, revised flight planning (?), potentially even refueling --
it's just hard to believe they would really do it (especially given the
high probability of a false positive in a system like this).

4) And, if there really were some passenger with an operating device in
their pocket, it would be pretty trivial for them to surreptitiously
turn it off during the return taxi; and then what is the airline to do,
once they're back at the gate? Search all the passengers, trying to
find which of a hundred cell phones was the guilty one?

Just doesn't seem realistic to me . . . ???


 




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