[Sith_Apprentice]

Originally Posted by John Clark

I purposely didn't use my S9 because I didn't want to try and explain. The Flight Attendants will soon catch on.

usually my company books me on so many hops per flight that im not on an airplane for more than an hour or two at a time. i get passed three or four times by the attendants they dont even pay attention. not to mention my stereo headset looks like a wired one (full earcup and all) so its all good.

[phrider]

The old Blackberry 950 on the Mobitex 900 MHz network seemed to work quite well for sending and receiving emails in the air. The GSM Blackberries don't do that nearly as well, I understand, because of the directional nature of the GSM antenna designs on the towers. Or so I understand from an old boss.

The 950 could throw some RF that could readily confuse some instruments. I had a CO alarm that was showing dangerous levels in my home. This warranted a call to the local natural gas company and a furnance repairman, who both found nothing. Then, after weeks of trying to track sources of carbon monoxide, I noticed the CO monitor was near where I usually left my Blackberry.

I reset the CO alarm, placed the Blackberry right next to it, and sent a message to the Blackberry. BANG! The CO alarm triggered. I later figured out that I could trigger the same error with my dual band TDMA cell phone.

So cell frequency transmissions can make important instruments go nuts.

[bjchantry]

South African Airways specifically mentions no phones, including Blackberry's, in flight mode may be used. You also can't turn them on when you land like you can in the USA, you have to wait until the doors of the plane are actually open.

[Sci-Tek]

In norway your not allowed to have anything on during takeoff / landing.
Even MP3 are banned, however when the plane reaches flight height your allowed to turn non wireless devices on. Phones must be in flight mode so it don't use the radio, same with laptops.