Has an Aircraft Actually Crashed Because of Mobile Phone Emissions?
"Well, the most accurate answer is that we don't really know, but the short answer is that it probably has. On the night of Friday 6 February, 2003, a Piper Navajo Chieftain light aircraft was on approach to Christchurch, New Zealand. It was dark, and the weather was poor, so the landing was using instruments only. Some 2km short of the runway, the plane flew into a tree, killing the pilot and seven passengers. Only two survived.
Later analysis revealed that the plane had been below the correct glide path for the runway, and that the instruments were telling the pilot to descend. The instruments had malfunctioned and the pilot had, understandably, continued to follow their instructions, being unaware of the malfunction. It transpired that the pilot had made a call on his mobile just before the glide path signal was acquired. The call ceased when the plane crashed. Although the final report was inconclusive, no evidence was found to support any other theory for the crash."
Part of the conclusion in a very detailed report by the Transport Investigation in NZ:
3.10 The use of cellphones and computers permitted by the pilot on the flight had the potential to cause electronic interference to the aircraft's avionics, and was unsafe.
3.11 The pilot's own cellphone was operating during the last 3 minutes of the flight, and could have interfered with his glide slope indication on the ILS approach.
Link to full report: