Pilot Clears Up “Airplane Mode” Conspiracy
Have you ever wondered if turning your phone to ‘airplane mode’ actually does anything? A Delta pilot is going viral after answering just that question.
“The airplane mode button on your phone is not a conspiracy.”
The pilot made the important PSA on his TikTok about why the safety precaution is important, the video already has 2 million views.
He says the reason the crew asks passengers to turn cell phones to “airplane mode” is to help eliminate message interference from competing radio waves.
“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 captain said this happened during a recent flight where cell phone interference messed up his headset. “It’s definitely not the end of the world but it’s pretty annoying when you’re trying to copy down instructions, and it sounds like there’s a wasp or something flying around.”
He reassures everyone that if you do forget to turn on ‘airplane mode’ it “won’t cause the plane to fall out of the sky” or even “mess with the systems on board.” However, it is US law that passengers must switch their phones to airplane mode while flying.
