The captain has explained the truth behind aeroplane mode and what happens if people ignore it
A pilot has warned why it is essential to use a phone’s aeroplane mode on a flight – with ‘sudden’ issues possible at certain key moments. Savina Paül, an A330 pilot outlined the problems that arise when people ignore the warnings issued on planes over use of the mode.
The captain warned planes are essentially like big computers. Systems on modern aircraft like the Airbus A330 are highly computerised and sensitive to small electrical impulses or external interference, he said.
She says passengers should wait for a few minutes before turning on mobile phones after landing. And she said they should keep them in aeroplane mode throughout the flight – even if the journey is short.
“One phone is fine, but all of them at once isn’t,” she said. She added simply: “Listen to us when we ask you to switch your mobile phone to airplane mode”. She made the remarks while speaking on the Spanish podcast ‘Supersónicos Anónimos’.
She told listeners that using your phone’s ‘aeroplane mode’ is a real safety measure. In particular, she said the issue is not just around a single device being switched on, El Confidencial reports.
Instead, she said it is the total effect of large numbers of active mobile phones during a flight. And in particular, this is a problem during high-precision approaches, known in aviation as category 3 – or autoland.
She said: “One mobile phone switched on does nothing, but 300 mobile phones at once, especially during a high-precision approach, can cause interference.”
She told the pod that the interference directly affects the aircraft’s instruments. She spoke about incident while a plane was on the runway: “While taxiing, suddenly a fault warning ‘master caution’ appears and then disappears. Sometimes this is because people turn on their mobile phones as soon as they land.”
She added: “The plane is basically a computer, and these things happen,” she said – and cautioned that even a small error can trigger momentary alerts in the control systems.
In an excerpt of the pod broadcast on TikTok, she was again asked if it was really necessary to have flight mode on. She said: “If travellers are listening to this, please don’t ignore us regarding airplane mode on phones. It may seem silly, but it’s not.”
She then added: “I’ll be honest with you. One mobile phone switched on does nothing, but 300 mobile phones at once, especially during a high-precision approach, a category 3, when you need everything to work perfectly, can certainly cause interference.
“It’s just that the interference is not by radio, which is what people believe. No, there is interference with the instruments.”