A pilot’s explanation of why passengers are asked to switch their smartphones to airplane mode before takeoff has gone viral. The video, which has garnered over 2 million views on TikTok, was shared by a pilot known as @perchpoint. He assured viewers that the airplane mode feature on phones is not a conspiracy and forgetting to use it won’t cause the plane to crash or interfere with the aircraft’s systems.
However, the pilot explained that if a significant number of passengers neglect this step, it could potentially disrupt the pilots’ radio communications with the control tower. He stated, “If you have an aircraft with 70, 80, 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 that those radio waves can interfere with the radio waves of the headset that the pilots are using.”
The pilot recalled an incident during a recent flight where he experienced interference while receiving instructions on his headset. He likened the disturbance to the sound of a buzzing insect, describing it as “pretty annoying when you’re trying to copy down instructions and it sounds like there’s a wasp or something flying around.”
He concluded his video by reiterating the importance of using airplane mode during flights. He said, “So if you’re ever curious why you’ve got to put on airplane mode, that’s why.”
In the United States, it is a legal requirement for passengers to switch their phones to airplane mode while in flight. According to the code of federal regulations, “Cellular telephones installed in or carried aboard airplanes, balloons or any other type of aircraft must not be operated while such aircraft are airborne (not touching the ground). When any aircraft leaves the ground, all cellular telephones on board that aircraft must be turned off.”