What happens if you don't turn on airplane mode when flying, according to a pilot
Flight safety is top of mind given recent high-profile crashes, like a Delta plane's fiery crash landing in Canada last week.
Scenes like that can make passengers more apt to follow the rules on board even if they don't know their purpose.
Ask a traveler for their thoughts on airplane mode and their response is typically a feeling of indifference.
"I never really thought it was a huge deal, but did I comply? Sure," one traveler said while at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
With a quick tap, airplane mode turns off a cell phone's radio frequencies, stopping its ability to make and receive calls, texts or use the internet.
Two passengers told WCCO they had forgotten to activate airplane mode on their phones during a flight. From their perspective, the flight took off and landed like normal with no complications.
A survey found 40% percent of people don't always put their phones on airplane mode while on a flight, while 17% percent say they never do it.
The law states, "The FAA and FCC ban cell phones for airborne use because their signals could interfere with critical aircraft instruments."
That's a concerning thought when you're thousands of feet off the ground.
"The FAA takes the position that anything that's going to have any remote negative impact on a safe flight, they want to not allow it," Randle Corfman said.
Corfman is the president of the Minnesota Pilots Association and has 9,000 hours of flying time in his career. He says not much happens during a flight if a phone is not in airplane mode.
"There is some interference if the cell phones are closer to the flight deck, but it's minimal, just a small buzzing sound apparently in the headsets of the pilots and the flight crew," Corfman said.
Beyond the buzzing sound, Corfman is unaware of any information showing that cell phone usage interfered with an aircraft's navigation systems.
While initially downplaying the impact, Corfman did say that pilots would prefer to not have any distractions while operating the plane, such as something interfering with their ability to hear. Pilots use headsets to talk with the flight crew, flight attendants and most importantly, air traffic control.
When a plane is closer to the ground like when it's descending to land or taking off, phones not in airplane mode can reach cell towers and get a signal. If the phone receives a call or text, that could trigger the noise in the pilot's headset.
"Air traffic control is telling us exactly where we can fly, what altitudes, what air speeds, so it's important that we don't miss any communications," Corfman said. "I want no cell phone usage in the aircraft when I'm doing those critical phases of flight."
The rules are different across the pond. Since 2023, passengers on flights in Europe have been allowed to use their phones without airplane mode. That's partly because the 5G network in Europe is not the same as in the United States.
