iPhone and SAA

CAA regulates british airways flights in SA, no? Can you use flight mode on a BA flight in SA?
 
SAA would rather you leave your iPhone in your luggage so their baggage handleing crew can get early xmas gifts.
 
So no flight mode??? But it's okay to take out your notebook and listen to mp3's on it?
So now i ask you, what's deference??

EDIT: and what about the notebook that have UMTS cards installed??
 
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I've given up trying to argue with flight attendants about the definition of the term "Flight Mode". You'd think the 'Flight' bit would be a dead giveaway.....

I assume using your iTouch with WiFi turned on is OK? After all it's not a phone....:rolleyes:
 
Yes, I can use my laptop with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and embedded 3G modem on the plane...but I dare not use my cell with flight mode (when all those antennas are switched off). Crazy
 
I also gave up with my sony ericsson. This applies to Kulula as well and I have even lodged a complaint with their head-office and got a heap of regulations thrown at me.

So instead of using my SE in flight mode, i now take my laptop with its infrared, wireless and bluetooth communications out and play games, work or listen to music on that.

What a bunch of nitwits!
Same time posting with ianvr!!
 
I make a point of it to always carry at least two phones with me that do not have a flight mode when I fly. I leave them switched on. The one in my hand luggage (set to loud/outdoor profile) and the other one in my one pocket (on vibrate mode).

Apart from them I have my normal phone that I use for music listening (secretly). Even though it has an offline mode I do not select it. Instead I use it to see how many other bluetooth devices I can find on the plane (while no one is looking ofcourse :p) You'd be surprised to see how many you pick up.

Now, the two other phones both have vodacom sim cards in them and on Vodacom4me.co.za I set up SMS's to be sent to at the time while I am in the air and out of coverage. This is really cool because as the plane descends to land you hear this massive message alert from the overhead storage and feel the tingle in your pants as the plane penetrates the coverage zone :p

Neat eh ? BTW - none of the flights I have been on ever had any issues with anything. I have done this sitting in the front, middle and tail of the plane. So this whole story is big time BS.
 
Rouxenator said:
I make a point of it to always carry at least two phones with me that do not have a flight mode when I fly. I leave them switched on. The one in my hand luggage (set to loud/outdoor profile) and the other one in my one pocket (on vibrate mode).

Apart from them I have my normal phone that I use for music listening (secretly). Even though it has an offline mode I do not select it. Instead I use it to see how many other bluetooth devices I can find on the plane (while no one is looking ofcourse :p) You'd be surprised to see how many you pick up.

Now, the two other phones both have vodacom sim cards in them and on Vodacom4me.co.za I set up SMS's to be sent to at the time while I am in the air and out of coverage. This is really cool because as the plane descends to land you hear this massive message alert from the overhead storage and feel the tingle in your pants as the plane penetrates the coverage zone :p

Neat eh ? BTW - none of the flights I have been on ever had any issues with anything. I have done this sitting in the front, middle and tail of the plane. So this whole story is big time BS.
Click to expand...

Amazing what amuses some people ;)

So the day the plane crash and you die with many others, you'll stop calling it BS?

I personally don't buy that mobile phones will interfere with avionics (there's only been one, poorly documented, case I can recall), it still is the law to switch any transmitters off.

Why not just do it? What perverse kick do you get from not doing it? :confused:
 
They told us last time to switch off all mobile devices, and then they added "do not switch to flight mode, switch it off please".

And I would just rather switch it off than g down in a ball of fire :D
 
Rouxenator said:
... and feel the tingle in your pants as the plane penetrates the coverage zone ...
Click to expand...

Doesn't qualify you for membership to the mile high club. Stop trying. :p

Seriously though, besides a "fun" one-off experiment, why do you make it a point to do this every time you travel? It may be a silly law (that you need to turn off your wireless devices), but you are breaking the law three times over each time you do this... Just for the fun of it??? I can understand people who own a device with a flight mode selecting it and then secretly using it in-flight (to protect themselves from the stupidity of the flight crew), but not what you're doing...
 
Personally, I would stick the device into flight mode and just keep it out of the prying eyes of the cabin crew.
 
They won't know the difference between an Iphone or an Ipod Touch.

Just don't let them see the back. :)
 
Yeah, feel exatly the same. Its called idiotic ignorance.

You will probably find that in a plane of 300 people there might be 1-20 phones accidentally left on or intentionally.

According to How Cell Phones Work. Miami: HowStuffWorks, 1998-2006. "Many cell phones have two signal strengths: 0.6 watts and 3 watts (for comparison, most CB radios transmit at 4 watts)."
Now how about 300 leaving there phones on and end up interfering with critical equipment flying in a storm or missing the plane coming towards you...

Also (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_on_aircraft)
Very intresting, it could actually cause crashes in the network since it is designed for terestrial operation only.

My point i want to make is rather educate your staff,crew and passengers about the importance of 'flight mode' only rather than have people not give a crap.
 
EchoZA said:
SAA would rather you leave your iPhone in your luggage so their baggage handleing crew can get early xmas gifts.
Click to expand...

Precisely.

The systems in planes are far more reliable than those in motor vehicles yet it is an issue for the CAA. Maybe if they cut all their bureaucracy we'd see less innocent people killed in planes worldwide.
 
Erm ok, let me get this.... You not allowed to listen to Music on your iPhone in "flight mode" but I can "audit" other people's wi-fi connections on the plane with my Eee..... neeet.

Record I have picked up was 28 SSID's in one flight. (Local domestic JHB-CPT). My Dell laptops, wi-fi, bluetooth, IR and HSDPA is all on one switch to turn it to "flight mode". Been using it for some time now on local and international flights with no contest from any flight crew.
 
I find it hard to believe that people can be so ignorant.

Agreed, there is no conclusive proof that any airline accidents were caused by cellphones, but why risk it?

In 1989 a 747 went down after the cargo hold doors opened mid flight:

"Their investigation led them to conclude that the design of the aircraft's cargo door latching mechanism had been flawed.

As early as 1975, Boeing realized the aluminum locking sectors were of too thin a gauge to be effective and recommended the airlines add doublers to the locking sectors."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_811

The airlines didn't listen as "no proof of previous accidents" existed and 9 people died (this could have been far worse).

As for the ignorance of cabin crew members. Can we really expect that the 4 cabin crew members go around to 200 odd people and check each ones phone to establish whether it is really in "Flight Mode". It is a lot simpler to just have everybody turn off their phones rather than have disputes.

Can you imagine the air rage you'd have if passengers start freaking out because fellow passengers haven't switched off their phones?
 
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