InFlight use of Cellular
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: france
Age: 47
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InFlight use of Cellular
Hello,
Today, as a pax, I was flying in a Ryanair 737-800.
That day I forgot to set Airplane mode.
In cruise I received a SMS. The kind of Welcome message sent by cellular operators when you cross a border.
I was really surprised as we were mid flight.
I set airplane mode and took a picture to remember this event time. I also looked at my GPS position which I get after about minutes.
The message "Welcome to Germany" was in line with the aircraft location.
At destination, using flight Radar I check the altitude according to the picture timestamp. It was taken at 40000 ft.
There is no uncertainty as this ALT was reached for a while when I received the message.
Of course that signal lasts only few seconds, but enough to connect and receive this message.
I can only think about an area in where for any reason an antenna is slightly pointing above the horizon (which is not standard cas), and the iPhone did connect on the slant distance from that antenna to the aircraft.
The fact is that it connected.
I am posting this message as I am interested by knowing if any experienced such high altitude reception of cellular signals, and what are the explanations behind ...
Today, as a pax, I was flying in a Ryanair 737-800.
That day I forgot to set Airplane mode.
In cruise I received a SMS. The kind of Welcome message sent by cellular operators when you cross a border.
I was really surprised as we were mid flight.
I set airplane mode and took a picture to remember this event time. I also looked at my GPS position which I get after about minutes.
The message "Welcome to Germany" was in line with the aircraft location.
At destination, using flight Radar I check the altitude according to the picture timestamp. It was taken at 40000 ft.
There is no uncertainty as this ALT was reached for a while when I received the message.
Of course that signal lasts only few seconds, but enough to connect and receive this message.
I can only think about an area in where for any reason an antenna is slightly pointing above the horizon (which is not standard cas), and the iPhone did connect on the slant distance from that antenna to the aircraft.
The fact is that it connected.
I am posting this message as I am interested by knowing if any experienced such high altitude reception of cellular signals, and what are the explanations behind ...
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