'Not a conspiracy': Pilot reveals reason you must put your phone on 'airplane mode' when flying
An airline pilot has revealed why passengers must put their phones on airplane mode when flying.
"It's not a conspiracy" airline pilot Perchpoint said on TikTok, explaining just why you can't continue to scroll when on board a plane.
"No, it's not the end of the world, no the plane won't fall out of the sky, and it won't even mess with the systems on board, however, it does have the potential to mess with the headsets," he said.
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An airline pilot has revealed why passengers must put their phones on airplane mode when flying. TikTok
"If you have an aircraft with 79, 80, 150 people on board, and even three or four people's phones start to try and make a connection to a radio tower for an incoming phone call, it sends out radio waves.
"There's a potential that those radio waves can interfere with the radio waves of the headset that the pilots are using."
He said on a flight the night before in San Francisco, when the plane was on its way to the runway, a problem arose.
An airline pilot has revealed why passengers must put their phones on airplane mode when flying. Getty Images/iStockphoto
Because somebody broke the rules, his communications with air traffic control were affected.
"There was this really annoying buzz," he said.
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https://www.tiktok.com/@perchpoint/video/7444020349416623402"It kind of sounds like there's a mosquito in my ear.
"It's not the end of the world but it's definitely pretty annoying when you're trying to copy instructions and it sounds like there's a wasp or something flying around you."
Social media users were surprised by his revelation.
"I didn't know it mattered," one person said.
Another person suggested he should tell passengers on a flight why they should heed the warnings.
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"Why was I led to believe it would make the plane crash," another viewer asked.
Another person asked if the sound was similar many people remember from the early days of mobiles, when a computer would buzz when a phone call or test was coming into a nearby phone.
The pilot confirmed it was.
