BA 282,LAX-LHR, 11/7/01, F/A&SAFETY!!!

[charlyvictor]

One particular F/A made passengers in the rear feel pretty miserable.
F/A:female,heavy-set,short red ponytail, 'working' in the back of the plane

The highlight:
While approaching LHR, alt. ca 7000ft, she sat in the one single seat behind the last row, doing a casual call on her mobile for ca. 7 min...the fully-booked 747-400 was fighting heavy winds.

Ca.5hrs after T/O: a man was relaxing in the same seat and playing with the various ringing sounds of his mobile - the mobile on, of course. We in the back were quite worried, and after more than 5 minutes I(SLF) asked him politely to plse turn the phone off.
This moment THE F/A showed up, comforting the 'mobile' man and scolding me...
(This, by the way, was one of her rare appearances in the rear section - the other ones were quite negative too).
(I sent a detailed fax to CEO Eddington 2 days ago).
Now you know. Take care!

fire_bird7

[N One]

Fire Bird

Get a life.

Why do you waste your time and ruin your credibility on the forum by posting such crap.

I expect your fax went into Rods' shredder.

happy flying

[sweety]

Exactly..! :eek:

[cabinkitten]

Seems suspiciously like a case of someone not getting the upgrade/desired flavour of pretzels wanted and deciding to spread a few safety related porkies...could have cobbled together something a little more convincing myself though....hmmm... surly c/c member sharing tequila shots with... ummm...ginned up traveller purser...let me think... while F/O gives convincing rendition of 'I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts' while carmen mirandering his way down the aisle...on short finals....into fogbound...turbulence-ridden...LGW...

[ 17 November 2001: Message edited by: cabinkitten ]

[snowbound]

fire -bird,you either have no relation to the airline industry or you have a large chip on your shoulder.I have never heard such bollocks

[cabinboy]

Mobile phones must not be turned on aboard any commercial aircraft - this flight attendant obviously did not pay attention in her ground school or to the safety p/a on her aircraft for which she is employed to action. She endangered the lives of 300 odd people..........good enough cause for a complaint to BA I reckon. How can pax be expected to follow the rules if the cabin crew won't.

[snowbound]

cabin boy (hello) this did not happen on a B.A. flight....believe me (maybe in oz though)are you really that gullible

[N One]

Cabin Boy,

Come on mate. There still has been no DIRECT proof that mobile phones interfere with a/c systems, I myself have tried it by placing my phone directly next to electrical components and radio naviagtion aids with no effect. I have even dialed a number whilst siting the phone right next to the instrument panel.....nothing. Obviously there was no one on board at the time!

There is a possibility that it MIGHT interfere with a/c systems and as such any risk that could cause a problem will be banned.

But I digress from the posted topic, which seems its been posted my a RIVET SPOTTER as there aren't many people who would bother posted twaddle about a mobile phone.
I am also curious as to how she/he remembered the PASSING ALTITUDE the a/c was at at this said incident! Perhaps she/he had a log book at the time! Next they'll know the OAT/IAS and the STAR into LHR.

What a looser.

[cloud nine]

FIRE BIRD.....Sounds like you are telling little white lies. Why waste your time with such a CRAP topic!!!!!!
Reality is....every one knows that such crap would ever happen on board.

[kb2lily]

Guys- While I"m not a telecoms guru, not using the mobile during flight probably also has something to do with its ability to cause a spark. (Think of the signs in the gas stations that say no using the mobile phone while fueling.) Either that or it's a big scam between the airlines and the telco providers for the onboard phones!

[Aerienne]

Fire_bird what was the response to your fax then? You obviously took the accused stdss name and those of other pax who witnessed the alledged incident, You of course immediately spoke to the Purser and CSD after the event to inform them of the reckless behaviour.There should therefore be at least one written report recording exactly what happened. If this is the case it seems to me that you have a watertight grievance and are heading for that cherished, life-long free upgrade pass!

[cabinkitten]

...If it ever happened...WHICH IT DIDN'T!!

[NigelOnDraft]

Mobiles v Aircraft (and others...)

As any Pilot will tell you ... we have have all left our mobiles on accidently... Like with your PC / HiFi at home, it crackles at ~1000' as it "sees" all the other "cells". So we turn it off...

Plenty of stories of mobiles rings - some autopilots drop off etc. Same with laptops. Conclusion - not life threatening, but not a great idea (esp on a CAT3 approach).

Who doesn't want mobiles on?
PRIMARILY the mobile phone companies! A mobile "at height" completely scr*ws up the division of the transmitter cells, floods the network etc. I gather they now have technology to detect a mobile talking to more than 1 cell, and cut it off the system..

Then the garages - its not they cause a spark - just the old "high power" mobiles stopped the cash counter going up when you filled up..!

So - not a good idea to have them on, and they are unlikely to work well, but if they were a significant safety hazard, we would have had the tragic proof by now..

NoD

[Aerienne]

Just to let you now fire_bird has transfered his question back to the Pilots Rumour and News board,

[mainfrog2]

Cabinboy - not a bashing for you as others seem to have done that already. What is the point in me doing a pa warning pax about having mobile phones on when no one takes a blind bit of notice. Believe it or not most pax are adults and I hopefully treat them like adults, as a consequence I'm not going to wipe their a***s for them. When boarding pax we mention at least 3 times about ensuring mobile phones are off. How many times do they need to be told. Take them off everyone at the gate (including crew) stick em in the hold that would solve the problem. Cabin crew should enforce the rule but for Cliff's sake passengers behave like adults.

[Human Factor]

Not entirely sure that using a cellphone is life threateningly dangerous (arcing during refuelling excepted - same reason why you shouldn't use HF!!). However, bearing in mind that these things have a five mile range (approx) the interference from that strong a signal to systems could potentially cause problems during a Cat 3 approach (autolanding) resulting in a go around.

Also, I was once told that the cellular networks don't cope very well with high speed transfer between cells. Car/train speeds are OK but 500kts? Wonder if that has something to do with it?

Anyone know the facts, this is just IMHO.

[wish]

I have turned my mobile on which has caused a reaction on the PFD (the main tv screen). To say it has no effect is wrong, it depends where it is on the a/c.

[basil fawlty]

Interesting thread.....!!
In my experience, most, but definately NOT all cabin crew, are in the business for what they can get out of it at the end of the day.....Same as most other professions (including piloting!) :D Anyone who disagrees is a fool unto themselves!!

[screwdriver]

It is UNLIKELY that a cellphone would cause interference to the a/c systems but not impossible. I've experienced a pressurisation problem in a 747 which we put down to the fellow in Club using his cellphone on the descent. There are many conditions to be satisfied before interference is likely. They include-Location on a/c,device orientation, strength of radiated signal, frequency of signal, reflection paths offered by objects outside the a/c ( wings, surfaces etc ), operating frequency of affected device, receiver device operating near its minimum signal level. The most critical phase of flight would be the take off and landing as during these stages the a/c would be in proximity to ground based interference sources which could interact with the signal from the cellphone.
Anyway, the story still sounds like a load of bollox to me.

[radeng]

http://www.srg.caa.co.uk/news/gsm_intf.pdf is worth a visit to decide if mobile phones can be a hazard.


Especially para 5.7, which reads (quote)

'Multiple telephone use by passengers subscribing to different networks would generate interference at different frequencies that exceeds demonstrated susceptability levels of some aircraft equipment'.

It seems the CAA feel there's case to worry about.

[ 03 December 2001: Message edited by: radeng ]