How your mobile phone could bring down a plane

THE use of electronic devices like mobile phones, tables and iPods in mid-air may produce a "perfect storm" of conditions that will have disastrous consequences, aviation experts have warned.

This is because most personal electronic devices emit electromagnetic waves which can interfere with a plane's electronics, an investigation by the New York Times has found.

Though it has remained tough to prove, safety professionals suspect that electronic interference has played a role in some airline accidents and have warned passengers not to be complacent.

"Electronic devices don't cause problems in each case," David Carson, an engineer with Boeing, said.

"However it's bad in that people assume it by no means will."

Older planes may perhaps be particularly vulnerable to interference as they may well not have the very best protection against the latest generation of devices. One more contributory factor is the plane's altitude.

"A plane is created to the right specifications, but nobody goes back and checks if it really is still robust," Bill Strauss, an engineer and former doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University, said.

"Then you can find the outliers - a mobile phone that's been dropped and abused, or a battery that puts out far more (power) than it's supposed to, and avionics that are a lot more susceptible to interference because gaskets have failed.

"And boom, that's where you get interference.

"It could be a best storm that would combine to produce an aviation accident."

Although there haven't been any recent studies of how generally passengers use their gadgets during flights, a study by Mr Strauss seven years ago that monitored the signals emitted from phones mid-flight found that they were frequently being left on.

Even the flight crew often flout the rules, however it is believed that individuals simply aren't aware of the possible dangers of making use of electronic devices mid-flight.

"I don't believe it is general understanding that somebody could plug in an iPod and potentially harm the aircraft ¡§C even among the flight attendant and pilot community," said Dinkar Mokadam, an occupational safety specialist with the US Association of Flight Attendants.

A 2003 plane crash in Christchurch, New Zealand, has been highlighted as an example where a mobile phone is believed to have interfered with the plane's navigational equipment.

Eight people today had been killed when the plane flew into the ground short of the runway.

The pilot had referred to as residence some time just before the crash, remaining connected for the last few minutes of the flight.

A final report into the incident by the New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission found that "the pilot's own mobile phone may possibly have caused erroneous indications" on the navigational aid.

In 2007, one more pilot recounted an instance when the navigational equipment on his Boeing 737 failed after takeoff. The issue resolved itself after a passenger was told to turn off a hand-held GPS device.

Nonetheless new technologies is combating the possible danger electronic devices can pose to aircraft.

In July last year the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) ruled that mobiles do not disrupt aircraft navigational equipment if airlines install special technologies, paving the way for travellers to have the ability to make calls and send text messages mid-flight.

The ACMA approved technology that enables an airline-installed, on-board system to relay mobile-phone signals.

Emirates and Virgin Blue's V Australia will give passengers the green light for in-flight calls, but Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin's domestic airline won't lift the ban.